Set Operations

Operations Overview

List Operations

The most common use case. Find common elements, differences, or combine lists:

<Create> the <list-a> with [2, 3, 5].
<Create> the <list-b> with [1, 2, 3, 4].

(* Find elements in both lists *)
<Compute> the <common: intersect> from <list-a> with <list-b>.
(* Result: [2, 3] *)

(* Find elements in A not in B *)
<Compute> the <only-in-a: difference> from <list-a> with <list-b>.
(* Result: [5] *)

(* Combine all unique elements *)
<Compute> the <all: union> from <list-a> with <list-b>.
(* Result: [2, 3, 5, 1, 4] *)

Multiset Semantics

When lists contain duplicates, intersect preserves duplicates up to the minimum count in either list:

<Create> the <a> with [1, 2, 2, 3].
<Create> the <b> with [2, 2, 2, 4].

<Compute> the <common: intersect> from <a> with <b>.
(* Result: [2, 2] - two 2s appear in both *)

String Operations

Set operations work at the character level for strings:

(* Find common characters *)
<Compute> the <shared: intersect> from "hello" with "bello".
(* Result: "ello" *)

(* Find unique characters in first string *)
<Compute> the <unique: difference> from "hello" with "bello".
(* Result: "h" *)

(* All unique characters *)
<Compute> the <combined: union> from "hello" with "bello".
(* Result: "hellob" *)

Object Operations (Deep Comparison)

For objects, set operations perform deep recursive comparison. Only key-value pairs that match exactly are included in intersections:

<Create> the <obj-a> with {
    name: "Alice",
    age: 30,
    address: { city: "NYC", zip: "10001" }
}.

<Create> the <obj-b> with {
    name: "Alice",
    age: 31,
    address: { city: "NYC", state: "NY" }
}.

(* Find matching key-value pairs *)
<Compute> the <common: intersect> from <obj-a> with <obj-b>.
(* Result: { name: "Alice", address: { city: "NYC" } } *)

(* Find differences *)
<Compute> the <diff: difference> from <obj-a> with <obj-b>.
(* Result: { age: 30, address: { zip: "10001" } } *)

Type Behavior Summary

Related: Filter with not in

The Filter action also supports set membership testing with in and not in operators. These accept either CSV strings or array variables:

(* Create an exclusion list *)
<Create> the <exclude-statuses> with ["cancelled", "refunded"].

(* Filter using array variable *)
<Filter> the <active-orders> from the <orders>
    where <status> not in <exclude-statuses>.

(* Or use CSV string syntax *)
<Filter> the <pending> from the <orders>
    where <status> in "pending,processing".

Complete Example

Here's a practical example comparing two product catalogs:

(Catalog Comparison: Inventory) {
    (* Two product ID lists *)
    <Create> the <warehouse-a> with ["SKU-001", "SKU-002", "SKU-005"].
    <Create> the <warehouse-b> with ["SKU-001", "SKU-003", "SKU-004"].

    (* Find products in both warehouses *)
    <Compute> the <in-both: intersect> from <warehouse-a> with <warehouse-b>.

    (* Find products only in warehouse A *)
    <Compute> the <only-in-a: difference> from <warehouse-a> with <warehouse-b>.

    (* Find products only in warehouse B *)
    <Compute> the <only-in-b: difference> from <warehouse-b> with <warehouse-a>.

    (* Get complete inventory *)
    <Compute> the <all-products: union> from <warehouse-a> with <warehouse-b>.

    <Return> an <OK: status> with {
        in-both: <in-both>,
        exclusive-a: <only-in-a>,
        exclusive-b: <only-in-b>,
        total-inventory: <all-products>
    }.
}