C# Compare two dictionaries for equality

Question

I want to compare in C# two dictionaries with as keys a string and as value a list of ints. I assume two dictionaries to be equal when they both ha

Answer 1

Here is a way using Linq, probably sacrificing some efficiency for tidy code. The other Linq example from jfren484 actually fails the DoesOrderValuesMatter() test, because it depends on the default Equals() for List, which is order-dependent.

private bool AreDictionariesEqual(Dictionary> dict1, Dictionary> dict2)
{
    string dict1string = String.Join(",", dict1.OrderBy(kv => kv.Key).Select(kv => kv.Key + ":" + String.Join("|", kv.Value.OrderBy(v => v))));
    string dict2string = String.Join(",", dict2.OrderBy(kv => kv.Key).Select(kv => kv.Key + ":" + String.Join("|", kv.Value.OrderBy(v => v))));

    return dict1string.Equals(dict2string);
}