What is the difference between Contains and Any in LINQ?

Contains checks if the sequence contains a specified element.

Enumerable.Any checks if element of a sequence satisfies a condition.

Consider the following example:

List<int> list = new List<int> { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };
bool contains = list.Contains(1); //true

bool condition = list.Any(r => r > 2 && r < 5);

Contains takes an object, Any takes a predicate.

You use Contains like this:

listOFInts.Contains(1);

and Any like this:

listOfInts.Any(i => i == 1);
listOfInts.Any(i => i % 2 == 0); // Check if any element is an Even Number

So if you want to check for a specific condition, use Any. If you want to check for the existence of an element, use Contains.

MSDN for Contains, Any

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