Performance Benchmarking of Contains, Exists and Any

Question

I have been searching for a performance benchmarking between Contains, Exists and Any methods available in the List<T>. I wanted to find this out just out of curiosity as I was always confused among these. Many questions on SO described definitions of these methods such as:

1. LINQ Ring: Any() vs Contains() for Huge Collections
2. Linq .Any VS .Exists - Whats the difference?
3. LINQ extension methods - Any() vs. Where() vs. Exists()

So I decided to do it myself. I am adding it as an answer. Any more insight on the results is most welcomed. I also did this benchmarking for arrays to see the results

Answer 1

According to documentation:

List.Exists (Object method)

Determines whether the List(T) contains elements that match the conditions defined by the specified predicate.

IEnumerable.Any (Extension method)

Determines whether any element of a sequence satisfies a condition.

List.Contains (Object Method)

Determines whether an element is in the List.

Benchmarking:

CODE:

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        ContainsExistsAnyShort();

        ContainsExistsAny();
    }
    
    private static void ContainsExistsAny()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("***************************************");
        Console.WriteLine("********* ContainsExistsAny ***********");
        Console.WriteLine("***************************************");

        List<int> list = new List<int>(6000000);
        Random random = new Random();
        for (int i = 0; i < 6000000; i++)
        {
            list.Add(random.Next(6000000));
        }
        int[] arr = list.ToArray();

        find(list, arr);
    }

    private static void ContainsExistsAnyShort()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("***************************************");
        Console.WriteLine("***** ContainsExistsAnyShortRange *****");
        Console.WriteLine("***************************************");

        List<int> list = new List<int>(2000);
        Random random = new Random();
        for (int i = 0; i < 2000; i++)
        {
            list.Add(random.Next(6000000));
        }
        int[] arr = list.ToArray();

        find(list, arr);
    }

    private static void find(List<int> list, int[] arr)
    {
        Random random = new Random();
        int[] find = new int[10000];
        for (int i = 0; i < 10000; i++)
        {
            find[i] = random.Next(6000000);
        }

        Stopwatch watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
        for (int rpt = 0; rpt < 10000; rpt++)
        {
            list.Contains(find[rpt]);
        }
        watch.Stop();
        Console.WriteLine("List/Contains: {0:N0}ms", watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);

        watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
        for (int rpt = 0; rpt < 10000; rpt++)
        {
            list.Exists(a => a == find[rpt]);
        }
        watch.Stop();
        Console.WriteLine("List/Exists: {0:N0}ms", watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);

        watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
        for (int rpt = 0; rpt < 10000; rpt++)
        {
            list.Any(a => a == find[rpt]);
        }
        watch.Stop();
        Console.WriteLine("List/Any: {0:N0}ms", watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);

        watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
        for (int rpt = 0; rpt < 10000; rpt++)
        {
            arr.Contains(find[rpt]);
        }
        watch.Stop();
        Console.WriteLine("Array/Contains: {0:N0}ms", watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);

        Console.WriteLine("Arrays do not have Exists");

        watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
        for (int rpt = 0; rpt < 10000; rpt++)
        {
            arr.Any(a => a == find[rpt]);
        }
        watch.Stop();
        Console.WriteLine("Array/Any: {0:N0}ms", watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);
    }

RESULTS

***************************************
***** ContainsExistsAnyShortRange *****
***************************************
List/Contains: 96ms
List/Exists: 146ms
List/Any: 381ms
Array/Contains: 34ms
Arrays do not have Exists
Array/Any: 410ms
***************************************
********* ContainsExistsAny ***********
***************************************
List/Contains: 257,996ms
List/Exists: 379,951ms
List/Any: 884,853ms
Array/Contains: 72,486ms
Arrays do not have Exists
Array/Any: 1,013,303ms