Symmetric difference

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Task
Symmetric difference
You are encouraged to solve this task according to the task description, using any language you may know.
Task

Given two sets A and B, compute

That is, enumerate the items that are in A or B but not both. This set is called the symmetric difference of A and B.

In other words: (the set of items that are in at least one of A or B minus the set of items that are in both A and B).

Optionally, give the individual differences ( and ) as well.


Test cases
A = {John, Bob, Mary, Serena}
B = {Jim, Mary, John, Bob}


Notes
  1. If your code uses lists of items to represent sets then ensure duplicate items in lists are correctly handled. For example two lists representing sets of a = ["John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"] and b = ["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"] should produce the result of just two strings: ["Serena", "Jim"], in any order.
  2. In the mathematical notation above A \ B gives the set of items in A that are not in B; A ∪ B gives the set of items in both A and B, (their union); and A ∩ B gives the set of items that are in both A and B (their intersection).



11l

Translation of: Python
V setA = Set([‘John’, ‘Bob’, ‘Mary’, ‘Serena’])
V setB = Set([‘Jim’, ‘Mary’, ‘John’, ‘Bob’])
print(setA.symmetric_difference(setB))
print(setA - setB)
print(setB - setA)
Output:
Set([Jim, Serena])
Set([Serena])
Set([Jim])

Action!

The user must type in the monitor the following command after compilation and before running the program!
SET EndProg=*
CARD EndProg ;required for ALLOCATE.ACT

INCLUDE "D2:ALLOCATE.ACT" ;from the Action! Tool Kit. You must type 'SET EndProg=*' from the monitor after compiling, but before running this program!

DEFINE PTR="CARD"
DEFINE NODE_SIZE="6"
TYPE SetNode=[PTR data,prv,nxt]
TYPE SetInfo=[PTR name,begin,end]

PROC PrintSet(SetInfo POINTER s)
  SetNode POINTER n
  CHAR ARRAY a

  n=s.begin
  PrintF("%S=(",s.name)
  WHILE n
  DO
    Print(n.data)
    a=n.data
    IF n.nxt THEN
      Print(", ")
    FI
    n=n.nxt
  OD
  PrintE(")")
RETURN

PROC CreateSet(SetInfo POINTER s CHAR ARRAY n)
  s.name=n
  s.begin=0
  s.end=0
RETURN

PTR FUNC Find(SetInfo POINTER s CHAR ARRAY v)
  SetNode POINTER n

  n=s.begin
  WHILE n
  DO
    IF SCompare(v,n.data)=0 THEN
      RETURN (n)
    FI
    n=n.nxt
  OD
RETURN (0)

BYTE FUNC Contains(SetInfo POINTER s CHAR ARRAY v)
  SetNode POINTER n

  n=Find(s,v)
  IF n=0 THEN
    RETURN (0)
  FI
RETURN (1)

PROC Append(SetInfo POINTER s CHAR ARRAY v)
  SetNode POINTER n,tmp

  IF Contains(s,v) THEN RETURN FI

  n=Alloc(NODE_SIZE)
  n.data=v
  n.prv=s.end
  n.nxt=0
  IF s.end THEN
    tmp=s.end tmp.nxt=n
  ELSE
    s.begin=n
  FI
  s.end=n
RETURN

PROC Remove(SetInfo POINTER s CHAR ARRAY v)
  SetNode POINTER n,prev,next
  
  n=Find(s,v)
  IF n=0 THEN RETURN FI

  prev=n.prv
  next=n.nxt
  
  Free(n,NODE_SIZE)

  IF prev THEN
    prev.nxt=next
  ELSE
    s.begin=next
  FI
  IF next THEN
    next.prv=prev
  ELSE
    s.end=prev
  FI
RETURN

PROC AppendSet(SetInfo POINTER s,other)
  SetNode POINTER n

  n=other.begin
  WHILE n
  DO
    Append(s,n.data)
    n=n.nxt
  OD
RETURN

PROC RemoveSet(SetInfo POINTER s,other)
  SetNode POINTER n

  n=other.begin
  WHILE n
  DO
    Remove(s,n.data)
    n=n.nxt
  OD
RETURN

PROC Clear(SetInfo POINTER s)
  SetNode POINTER n

  DO
    n=s.begin
    IF n=0 THEN RETURN FI
    Remove(s,n.data)
  OD
RETURN

PROC Union(SetInfo POINTER a,b,res)
  Clear(res)
  AppendSet(res,a)
  AppendSet(res,b)
RETURN 

PROC Difference(SetInfo POINTER a,b,res)
  Clear(res)
  AppendSet(res,a)
  RemoveSet(res,b)
RETURN

PROC SymmetricDifference(SetInfo POINTER a,b,res)
  SetInfo tmp1,tmp2
  
  CreateSet(tmp1,"")
  CreateSet(tmp2,"")
  Difference(a,b,tmp1)
  Difference(b,a,tmp2)
  Union(tmp1,tmp2,res)
  Clear(tmp1)
  Clear(tmp2)
RETURN

PROC TestSymmetricDifference(SetInfo POINTER a,b,res)
  SymmetricDifference(a,b,res)
  PrintF("%S XOR %S: ",a.name,b.name)
  PrintSet(res)
RETURN

PROC TestDifference(SetInfo POINTER a,b,res)
  Difference(a,b,res)
  PrintF("%S-%S: ",a.name,b.name)
  PrintSet(res)
RETURN

PROC Main()
  SetInfo s1,s2,s3

  Put(125) PutE() ;clear screen
  
  AllocInit(0)
  CreateSet(s1,"A")
  CreateSet(s2,"B")
  CreateSet(s3,"C")

  Append(s1,"John") Append(s1,"Bob")
  Append(s1,"Mary") Append(s1,"Serena")
  Append(s2,"Jim") Append(s2,"Mary")
  Append(s2,"John") Append(s2,"Bob")
  
  PrintSet(s1) PrintSet(s2)
  PutE()

  TestSymmetricDifference(s1,s2,s3)
  TestDifference(s1,s2,s3)
  TestDifference(s2,s1,s3)

  Clear(s1)
  Clear(s2)
  Clear(s3)
RETURN
Output:

Screenshot from Atari 8-bit computer

A=(John, Bob, Mary, Serena)
B=(Jim, Mary, John, Bob)

A XOR B: C=(Serena, Jim)
A-B: C=(Serena)
B-A: C=(Jim)

Ada

Ada has the lattice operation xor predefined on Boolean, modular types, 1D arrays, set implementations from the standard library. The provided solution uses arrays:

with Ada.Text_IO;  use Ada.Text_IO;

procedure Test_XOR is
   type Person is (John, Bob, Mary, Serena, Jim);
   type Group is array (Person) of Boolean;
   procedure Put (Set : Group) is
      First : Boolean := True;
   begin
      for I in Set'Range loop
         if Set (I) then
            if First then
               First := False;
            else
               Put (',');
            end if;
            Put (Person'Image (I));
         end if;
      end loop;
   end Put;

   A : Group := (John | Bob | Mary | Serena => True, others => False);
   B : Group := (Jim | Mary | John | Bob    => True, others => False);   
begin
   Put ("A xor B = "); Put (A xor B);     New_Line;
   Put ("A - B   = "); Put (A and not B); New_Line;
   Put ("B - A   = "); Put (B and not A); New_Line;
end Test_XOR;

Sample output:

A xor B = SERENA,JIM
A - B   = SERENA
B - A   = JIM

Aime

show_sdiff(record u, x)
{
    record r;
    text s;

    r.copy(u);

    for (s in x) {
        if (r.key(s)) {
            r.delete(s);
        } else {
            r.p_integer(s, 0);
        }
    }

    r.vcall(o_, 0, "\n");
}

new_set(...)
{
    record r;

    ucall(r_p_integer, 1, r, 0);

    r;
}

main(void)
{
    show_sdiff(new_set("John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"),
               new_set("Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob"));

    0;
}
Output:
Jim
Serena

ALGOL 68

Works with: ALGOL 68G version Any - tested with release 2.8.3.win32

Uses the associative array implementations in ALGOL_68/prelude.

# symetric difference using associative arrays to represent the sets         #
# include the associative array code for string keys and values              #
PR read "aArray.a68" PR

# adds the elements of s to the associative array a,                         #
#      the elements will have empty strings for values                       #
OP // = ( REF AARRAY a, []STRING s )REF AARRAY:
BEGIN
    FOR s pos FROM LWB s TO UPB s DO
        a // s[ s pos ] := ""
    OD;
    a
END # // # ;
# returns an AARRAY containing the elements of a that aren't in b            #
OP - = ( REF AARRAY a, REF AARRAY b )REF AARRAY:
BEGIN
    REF AARRAY result := INIT HEAP AARRAY;
    REF AAELEMENT e := FIRST a;
    WHILE e ISNT nil element DO
        IF NOT ( b CONTAINSKEY key OF e ) THEN
            result // key OF e := value OF e
        FI;
        e := NEXT a
    OD;
    result
END # - # ;
# returns an AARRAY containing the elements of a and those of b   #
#         i.e. in set terms a UNION b                             #
OP + = ( REF AARRAY a, REF AARRAY b )REF AARRAY:
BEGIN
    REF AARRAY result := INIT HEAP AARRAY;
    REF AAELEMENT e := FIRST a;
    WHILE e ISNT nil element DO
        result // key OF e := value OF e;
        e := NEXT a
    OD;
    e := FIRST b;
    WHILE e ISNT nil element DO
        result // key OF e := value OF e;
        e := NEXT b
    OD;
    result
END # + # ;
# construct the associative arrays for the task                   #
REF AARRAY a := INIT LOC AARRAY;
REF AARRAY b := INIT LOC AARRAY;
a // []STRING( "John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena" );
b // []STRING( "Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob" );
# find and show the symetric difference of a and b                #
REF AARRAY c := ( a - b ) + ( b - a );
REF AAELEMENT e := FIRST c;
WHILE e ISNT nil element DO
    print( ( " ", key OF e ) );
    e := NEXT c
OD;
print( ( newline ) )
Output:
 Serena Jim

Amazing Hopper

#include <basico.h>

algoritmo
     
     matrices (A, B)
     "John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena", enlistar en 'A'
     "Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob", enlistar en 'B'
     
     "         A XOR B: {", diferencia simétrica(A,B), "}\n"
     "           A \ B: {", diferencia(A,B), "}\n"
     "           B \ A: {", diferencia(B,A), "}\n"
     imprimir
     
terminar
Output:
         A XOR B: {Jim,Serena}
           A \ B: {Serena}
           B \ A: {Jim}

Apex

Set<String> setA = new Set<String>{'John', 'Bob', 'Mary', 'Serena'};
Set<String> setB = new Set<String>{'Jim', 'Mary', 'John', 'Bob'};

// Option 1
Set<String> notInSetA = setB.clone();
notInSetA.removeAll(setA);

Set<String> notInSetB = setA.clone();
notInSetB.removeAll(setB);

Set<String> symmetricDifference = new Set<String>();
symmetricDifference.addAll(notInSetA);
symmetricDifference.addAll(notInSetB);

// Option 2
Set<String> union = setA.clone();
union.addAll(setB);

Set<String> intersection = setA.clone();
intersection.retainAll(setB);

Set<String> symmetricDifference2 = union.clone();
symmetricDifference2.removeAll(intersection);

System.debug('Not in set A: ' + notInSetA);
System.debug('Not in set B: ' + notInSetB);
System.debug('Symmetric Difference: ' + symmetricDifference);
System.debug('Symmetric Difference 2: ' + symmetricDifference2);
Output:
Not in set A: {Jim}
Not in set B: {Serena}
Symmetric Difference: {Jim, Serena}
Symmetric Difference 2: {Jim, Serena}

APL

Works with: Dyalog APL
symdiff  ∪~∩
Output:
      'John' 'Bob' 'Mary' 'Serena' symdiff 'Jim' 'Mary' 'John' 'Bob'
 Serena  Jim 

AppleScript

Functional

Translation of: JavaScript
(ES6 Functional JS)
-- SYMMETRIC DIFFERENCE -------------------------------------------

-- symmetricDifference :: [a] -> [a] -> [a]
on symmetricDifference(xs, ys)
    union(difference(xs, ys), difference(ys, xs))
end symmetricDifference

-- TEST -----------------------------------------------------------
on run
    set a to ["John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"]
    set b to ["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"]
    
    symmetricDifference(a, b)
    
    -->  {"Serena", "Jim"}
end run


-- GENERIC FUNCTIONS ----------------------------------------------

-- delete :: Eq a => a -> [a] -> [a]
on |delete|(x, xs)
    set mbIndex to elemIndex(x, xs)
    set lng to length of xs
    
    if mbIndex is not missing value then
        if lng > 1 then
            if mbIndex = 1 then
                items 2 thru -1 of xs
            else if mbIndex = lng then
                items 1 thru -2 of xs
            else
                tell xs to items 1 thru (mbIndex - 1) & ¬
                    items (mbIndex + 1) thru -1
            end if
        else
            {}
        end if
    else
        xs
    end if
end |delete|

-- difference :: [a] -> [a] -> [a]
on difference(xs, ys)
    script
        on |λ|(a, y)
            if a contains y then
                my |delete|(y, a)
            else
                a
            end if
        end |λ|
    end script
    
    foldl(result, xs, ys)
end difference

-- elemIndex :: a -> [a] -> Maybe Int
on elemIndex(x, xs)
    set lng to length of xs
    repeat with i from 1 to lng
        if x = (item i of xs) then return i
    end repeat
    return missing value
end elemIndex

-- foldl :: (a -> b -> a) -> a -> [b] -> a
on foldl(f, startValue, xs)
    tell mReturn(f)
        set v to startValue
        set lng to length of xs
        repeat with i from 1 to lng
            set v to |λ|(v, item i of xs, i, xs)
        end repeat
        return v
    end tell
end foldl

-- Lift 2nd class handler function into 1st class script wrapper 
-- mReturn :: Handler -> Script
on mReturn(f)
    if class of f is script then
        f
    else
        script
            property |λ| : f
        end script
    end if
end mReturn

-- nub :: [a] -> [a]
on nub(xs)
    if (length of xs) > 1 then
        set x to item 1 of xs
        [x] & nub(|delete|(x, items 2 thru -1 of xs))
    else
        xs
    end if
end nub

-- union :: [a] -> [a] -> [a]
on union(xs, ys)
    script flipDelete
        on |λ|(xs, x)
            my |delete|(x, xs)
        end |λ|
    end script
    
    set sx to nub(xs)
    sx & foldl(flipDelete, nub(ys), sx)
end union
Output:
{"Serena", "Jim"}

Some alternatives

There are several ways to approach this problem. Vanilla AppleScript doesn't do sets, but the following returns the required results:

on symmetricDifference(a, b)
    set output to {}
    repeat 2 times
        repeat with thisItem in a
            set thisItem to thisItem's contents
            tell {thisItem}
                if (not ((it is in b) or (it is in output))) then set end of output to thisItem
            end tell
        end repeat
        set {a, b} to {b, a}
    end repeat
    
    return output
end symmetricDifference

on task()
    set a to {"John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"}
    set b to {"Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"}
    return symmetricDifference(a, b)
end task

task()
Output:
{"Serena", "Jim"}

AppleScriptObjC gives access to the Foundation framework's NSSet classes, whose mutable variety has relevant methods. A symmetricDifference() handler implementing (A ∖ B) ∪ (B ∖ A) might be:

use AppleScript version "2.4" -- OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) or later
use framework "Foundation"

on symmetricDifference(a, b)
    set a to current application's class "NSSet"'s setWithArray:(a)
    set b to current application's class "NSMutableSet"'s setWithArray:(b)
    
    set output to a's mutableCopy()
    tell output to minusSet:(b)
    tell b to minusSet:(a)
    tell output to unionSet:(b)
    
    return output's allObjects() as list
end symmetricDifference

And for (A ∪ B) ∖ (A ∩ B):

use AppleScript version "2.4" -- OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) or later
use framework "Foundation"

on symmetricDifference(a, b)
    set a to current application's class "NSSet"'s setWithArray:(a)
    set b to current application's class "NSMutableSet"'s setWithArray:(b)
    
    set output to a's mutableCopy()
    tell output to unionSet:(b)
    tell b to intersectSet:(a)
    tell output to minusSet:(b)
    
    return output's allObjects() as list
end symmetricDifference

It's also possible in ASObjC to filter arrays or sets if you're so inclined:

use AppleScript version "2.4" -- OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) or later
use framework "Foundation"

on symmetricDifference(a, b)
    set unionArray to (current application's class "NSArray"'s arrayWithArray:({a, b}))'s ¬
        valueForKeyPath:("@distinctUnionOfArrays.self")
    set filter to current application's class "NSPredicate"'s ¬
        predicateWithFormat_("!((self IN %@) && (self IN %@))", a, b)
    
    return (unionArray's filteredArrayUsingPredicate:(filter)) as list
end symmetricDifference

Arturo

a: ["John" "Bob" "Mary" "Serena"]
b: ["Jim" "Mary" "John" "Bob"]
 
print difference.symmetric a b
Output:
Serena Jim

AutoHotkey

setA = John, Bob, Mary, Serena
setB = Jim, Mary, John, Bob
MsgBox,, Singles, % SymmetricDifference(setA, setB)

setA = John, Serena, Bob, Mary, Serena
setB = Jim, Mary, John, Jim, Bob
MsgBox,, Duplicates, % SymmetricDifference(setA, setB)

;---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SymmetricDifference(A, B) { ; returns the symmetric difference of A and B
;---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    StringSplit, A_, A, `,, %A_Space%
    Loop, %A_0%
        If Not InStr(B, A_%A_Index%)
        And Not InStr(Result, A_%A_Index%)
            Result .= A_%A_Index% ", "
    StringSplit, B_, B, `,, %A_Space%
    Loop, %B_0%
        If Not InStr(A, B_%A_Index%)
        And Not InStr(Result, B_%A_Index%)
            Result .= B_%A_Index% ", "
    Return, SubStr(Result, 1, -2)
}

Message boxes show:

Singles
---------------------------
Serena, Jim

OK
Duplicates
---------------------------
Serena, Jim

OK

AWK

# syntax: GAWK -f SYMMETRIC_DIFFERENCE.AWK
BEGIN {
    load("John,Bob,Mary,Serena",A)
    load("Jim,Mary,John,Bob",B)
    show("A \\ B",A,B)
    show("B \\ A",B,A)
    printf("symmetric difference: ")
    for (i in C) {
      if (!(i in A && i in B)) {
        printf("%s ",i)
      }
    }
    printf("\n")
    exit(0)
}
function load(str,arr,  i,n,temp) {
    n = split(str,temp,",")
    for (i=1; i<=n; i++) {
      arr[temp[i]]
      C[temp[i]]
    }
}
function show(str,a,b,  i) {
    printf("%s: ",str)
    for (i in a) {
      if (!(i in b)) {
        printf("%s ",i)
      }
    }
    printf("\n")
}

output:

A \ B: Serena
B \ A: Jim
symmetric difference: Serena Jim

BBC BASIC

Here sets are represented as integers, hence there are a maximum of 32 elements in a set.

      DIM list$(4)
      list$() = "Bob", "Jim", "John", "Mary", "Serena"
      
      setA% = %11101
      PRINT "Set A: " FNlistset(list$(), setA%)
      setB% = %01111
      PRINT "Set B: " FNlistset(list$(), setB%)
      
      REM Compute symmetric difference:
      setC% = setA% EOR setB%
      PRINT '"Symmetric difference: " FNlistset(list$(), setC%)
      
      REM Optional:
      PRINT "Set A \ Set B: " FNlistset(list$(), setA% AND NOT setB%)
      PRINT "Set B \ Set A: " FNlistset(list$(), setB% AND NOT setA%)
      END
      
      DEF FNlistset(list$(), set%)
      LOCAL i%, o$
      FOR i% = 0 TO 31
        IF set% AND 1 << i% o$ += list$(i%) + ", "
      NEXT
      = LEFT$(LEFT$(o$))

Output:

Set A: Bob, John, Mary, Serena
Set B: Bob, Jim, John, Mary

Symmetric difference: Jim, Serena
Set A \ Set B: Serena
Set B \ Set A: Jim

Bracmat

Walk through the concatenation of the two lists, using backtracking (forced by the ~ operator). If an element is in both lists, or if the element already is in the accumulated result symdiff, continue. Otherwise add the element to symdiff. When all elements are done and backtracking therefore finally fails, return the contents of symdiff. The flag % in the pattern %@?x ensures that only nontrivial elements (i.e. non-empty strings in this case) are matched. The @ flag ensures that at most one string is matched. Together these flags ensure that exactly one element is matched.

(SymmetricDifference=
  A B x symdiff
.   !arg:(?A.?B)
  & :?symdiff
  & (   !A !B
      :   ?
          ( %@?x
          & ( !A:? !x ?&!B:? !x ?
            | !symdiff:? !x ?
            | !symdiff !x:?symdiff
            )
          & ~
          )
          ?
    | !symdiff
    ));

Run:

SymmetricDifference$(john serena bob mary serena.jim mary john jim bob)

Output:

serena jim

C

Simple method:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

const char *A[] = { "John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena" };
const char *B[] = { "Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob" };

#define LEN(x) sizeof(x)/sizeof(x[0])

/* null duplicate items */
void uniq(const char *x[], int len)
{
	int i, j;
	for (i = 0; i < len; i++)
		for (j = i + 1; j < len; j++)
			if (x[j] && x[i] && !strcmp(x[i], x[j])) x[j] = 0;
}

int in_set(const char *const x[], int len, const char *match)
{
	int i;
	for (i = 0; i < len; i++)
		if (x[i] && !strcmp(x[i], match))
			return 1;
	return 0;
}

/* x - y */
void show_diff(const char *const x[], int lenx, const char *const y[], int leny)
{
	int i;
	for (i = 0; i < lenx; i++)
		if (x[i] && !in_set(y, leny, x[i]))
			printf("  %s\n", x[i]);
}

/* X ^ Y */
void show_sym_diff(const char *const x[], int lenx, const char *const y[], int leny)
{
	show_diff(x, lenx, y, leny);
	show_diff(y, leny, x, lenx);
}

int main()
{
	uniq(A, LEN(A));
	uniq(B, LEN(B));
	printf("A \\ B:\n"); show_diff(A, LEN(A), B, LEN(B));
	printf("\nB \\ A:\n"); show_diff(B, LEN(B), A, LEN(A));
	printf("\nA ^ B:\n");  show_sym_diff(A, LEN(A), B, LEN(B));

	return 0;
}
output
A \ B:
  Serena

B \ A:
  Jim

A ^ B:
  Serena
  Jim

If you prefer something elaborate:

#include <assert.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

const char *mary="Mary";
const char *bob="Bob";
const char *jim="Jim";
const char *john="John";
const char *serena="Serena";

const char *setA[] = {john,bob,mary,serena};
const char *setB[] = {jim,mary,john,bob};

#define XSET(j)  j, (sizeof(j)/sizeof(*j))
#define TALLOC(n,typ) malloc(n*sizeof(typ))

typedef enum {
    esdDIFFERENCE,
    esdSYMMETRIC } EsdFunction;
/** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
 * return value is difference or symmetric difference set
 *    its size is returned in sym_size
 *    f determinse whether it is a symmetric difference, or normal difference
 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **/
const char ** symmdiff( int *sym_size, EsdFunction f, const char *setA[], int setAsize, const char *setB[], int setBsize)
{
    int union_size;
    int max_union_size;
    int diff_size;
    const char **union_set;
    const char **diff_set;
    int *union_xor;
    int ix, ixu;

    max_union_size = setAsize + setBsize;
    union_set = TALLOC(max_union_size, const char *);
    union_xor = TALLOC(max_union_size, int);

    /* I'm assuming here that setA has no duplicates, 
     * i.e. is a set in mathematical sense */
    for (ix=0; ix<setAsize; ix++) {
        union_set[ix] = setA[ix];
        union_xor[ix] = 1;
    }
    diff_size = union_size = setAsize;
    for (ix=0; ix<setBsize; ix++) {
        for (ixu=0; ixu<union_size; ixu++) {
            if (union_set[ixu] == setB[ix]) break;
        }
        if (ixu < union_size) {	/* already in union */
            union_xor[ixu] = 1-union_xor[ixu];
            diff_size--;
        }
        else {		/* not already in union -add */
            if (f == esdSYMMETRIC) {
                union_set[ixu] = setB[ix];
                union_xor[ixu] = 1;
                union_size++;
                diff_size++;
            }
        }
    }
    /* Put results in symdiff set */
    diff_set = TALLOC(diff_size, const char *);
    ix = 0;
    for (ixu=0; ixu<union_size; ixu++) {
        if (union_xor[ixu]) {
            if (ix == diff_size) {
                printf("Short of space in diff_set\n");
                exit(1);
            }
            diff_set[ix] = union_set[ixu];
            ix++;
        }
    }
    *sym_size = diff_size;
    free(union_xor);
    free(union_set);
    return diff_set;
}

/* isSet tests that elements of list are unique, that is, that the list is a
 * mathematical set.  The uniqueness test implemented here is strcmp. */
int isSet(const char *list[], int lsize)
{
    int i, j;
    const char *e;
    if (lsize == 0) {
        return 1;
    }
    for (i = lsize-1; i>0; i--) {
        e = list[i];
        for (j = i-1; j>=0; j--) {
            if (strcmp(list[j], e) == 0) {
                return 0;
            }
        }
    }
    return 1;
}

void printSet (const char *set[], int ssize)
{
    int ix;
    printf(" = {");
    for (ix=0;ix<ssize; ix++) {
        printf( "%s ", set[ix]);
    }
    printf("}\n");
}

int main()
{
    const char **symset;
    int sysize;

    /* Validate precondition stated by task, that inputs are sets. */
    assert(isSet(XSET(setA)));
    assert(isSet(XSET(setB)));

    printf ("A symmdiff B");
    symset = symmdiff( &sysize, esdSYMMETRIC, XSET(setA), XSET(setB));
    printSet(symset, sysize);
    free(symset);
    printf ("A - B");
    symset = symmdiff( &sysize, esdDIFFERENCE, XSET(setA), XSET(setB));
    printSet(symset, sysize);
    printf ("B - A");
    symset = symmdiff( &sysize, esdDIFFERENCE, XSET(setB), XSET(setA));
    printSet(symset, sysize);
    free(symset);

    return 0;
}

Output

 A symmdiff B = {Serena Jim }
 A - B = {Serena }
 B - A = {Jim }

C#

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

namespace RosettaCode.SymmetricDifference
{
    public static class IEnumerableExtension
    {
        public static IEnumerable<T> SymmetricDifference<T>(this IEnumerable<T> @this, IEnumerable<T> that)
        {
            return @this.Except(that).Concat(that.Except(@this));
        }
    }

    class Program
    {
        static void Main()
        {
            var a = new[] { "John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena" };
            var b = new[] { "Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob" };

            foreach (var element in a.SymmetricDifference(b))
            {
                Console.WriteLine(element);
            }
        }
    }
}

Output:

Serena
Jim

C++

#include <iostream>
#include <set>
#include <algorithm>
#include <iterator>
#include <string>

using namespace std;
 
int main( ) {
   string setA[] = { "John", "Bob" , "Mary", "Serena" };
   string setB[] = { "Jim" , "Mary", "John", "Bob"  };
   set<string> 
       firstSet( setA , setA + 4 ),
       secondSet( setB , setB + 4 ),
       symdiff;

   set_symmetric_difference( firstSet.begin(), firstSet.end(),
                             secondSet.begin(), secondSet.end(),
                             inserter( symdiff, symdiff.end() ) );

   copy( symdiff.begin(), symdiff.end(), ostream_iterator<string>( cout , " " ) );
   cout << endl;
   return 0;
}

Output: Jim Serena

Clojure

(use '[clojure.set])

(defn symmetric-difference [s1 s2]
  (union (difference s1 s2) (difference s2 s1)))

(symmetric-difference #{:john :bob :mary :serena} #{:jim :mary :john :bob})

Common Lisp

(set-exclusive-or
  (remove-duplicates '(John Serena Bob Mary Serena))
  (remove-duplicates '(Jim Mary John Jim Bob)))

Output:

(JIM SERENA)

D

Generic version.

import std.stdio, std.algorithm, std.array;

struct Set(T) {
    immutable T[] items;

    Set opSub(in Set other) const pure nothrow {
        return items.filter!(x => !other.items.canFind(x)).array.Set;
    }

    Set opAdd(in Set other) const pure nothrow {
        return Set(this.items ~ (other - this).items);
    }
}

Set!T symmetricDifference(T)(in Set!T left, in Set!T right)
pure nothrow {
    return (left - right) + (right - left);
}

void main() {
    immutable A = ["John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"].Set!string;
    immutable B = ["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob"].Set!string;

    writeln("        A\\B: ", (A - B).items);
    writeln("        B\\A: ", (B - A).items);
    writeln("A symdiff B: ", symmetricDifference(A, B).items);
}
Output:
        A\B: ["Serena"]
        B\A: ["Jim"]
A symdiff B: ["Serena", "Jim"]

Datalog

Implemented using Souffle.

.decl A(text: symbol)
.decl B(text: symbol)
.decl SymmetricDifference(text: symbol)
.output SymmetricDifference

A("this").
A("is").
A("a").
A("test").
B("also").
B("part").
B("of").
B("a").
B("test").

SymmetricDifference(x) :- A(x), !B(x).
SymmetricDifference(x) :- B(x), !A(x).
Output:
this
is
also
part
of

Delphi

Translation of: Pascal

Small variation of pascal.

PROGRAM Symmetric_difference;

uses
  System.Typinfo;

TYPE
  TName = (Bob, Jim, John, Mary, Serena);
  TList = SET OF TName;

  TNameHelper = record helper for TName
    FUNCTION ToString(): string;
  end;

  { TNameHlper }

FUNCTION TNameHelper.ToString: string;
BEGIN
  Result := GetEnumName(TypeInfo(TName), Ord(self));
END;

PROCEDURE Put(txt: String; ResSet: TList);
VAR
  I: TName;

BEGIN
  Write(txt);
  FOR I IN ResSet DO
    Write(I.ToString, ' ');
  WriteLn;
END;

VAR
  ListA: TList = [John, Bob, Mary, Serena];
  ListB: TList = [Jim, Mary, John, Bob];

BEGIN
  Put('ListA          -> ', ListA);
  Put('ListB          -> ', ListB);
  Put('ListA >< ListB -> ', (ListA - ListB) + (ListB - ListA));
  Put('ListA -  ListB -> ', ListA - ListB);
  Put('ListB -  ListA -> ', ListB - ListA);
  ReadLn;
END.

Delphi/Object Pascal actually has a 'Symmetric Difference' operator `> <`:

program SymmetricDifference;

type
    charSet = set of Char;

var
    s1, s2, s3: charSet;
    ch: char;

begin
    s1 := ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'];
    s2 := ['c', 'd', 'e', 'f'];
    s3 := s1 >< s2;

    for ch in s3 do
        write(ch, ' ');
    writeLn;
end.

Output:

a b e f 

Déjà Vu

Déjà Vu has no real set type. Instead, it uses a dictionary whose keys are the set values. The set{ constructor uses true as a dummy value, and sets false as a dummy value.

set :setA set{ :John :Bob :Mary :Serena }
set :setB set{ :Jim :Mary :John :Bob }

symmetric-difference A B:
	}
	for a in keys A:
		if not has B a:
			a
	for b in keys B:
		if not has A b:
			b
	set{

!. symmetric-difference setA setB
Output:
set{ :Serena :Jim }

E

? def symmDiff(a, b) { return (a &! b) | (b &! a) }
# value: <symmDiff>

? symmDiff(["John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"].asSet(), ["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob"].asSet())
# value: ["Jim", "Serena"].asSet()

EasyLang

a$[] = [ "John" "Bob" "Mary" "Serena" ]
b$[] = [ "Jim" "Mary" "John" "Bob" ]
# 
for i to 2
   for a$ in a$[]
      for b$ in b$[]
         if a$ = b$
            a$ = ""
            break 1
         .
      .
      if a$ <> ""
         c$[] &= a$
      .
   .
   swap a$[] b$[]
.
print c$[]

Eiffel

note
	description: "Summary description for {SYMETRIC_DIFFERENCE_EXAMPLE}."
	URI: "http://rosettacode.org/wiki/Symmetric_difference"

class
	SYMETRIC_DIFFERENCE_EXAMPLE

create
	make

feature {NONE} -- Initialization

	make
		local
			a,a1,b,b1: ARRAYED_SET [STRING]
		do
			create a.make (4)
			create b.make (4)
			a.compare_objects
			b.compare_objects
			a.put ("John")
			a.put ("Bob")
			a.put ("Mary")
			a.put ("Serena")

			create a1.make (4)
			a1.copy (a)

			b.put ("Jim")
			b.put ("Mary")
			b.put ("John")
			b.put ("Bob")

			create b1.make (4)
			b1.copy (b)

		    a1.subtract (b1)
		    b.subtract (a)
		    a1.merge (b)
		    across a1 as c loop
		    	print (" " + c.item)
		    end
		end

end

Elixir

Works with: Elixir version 1.2
iex(1)> a = ~w[John Bob Mary Serena] |> MapSet.new
#MapSet<["Bob", "John", "Mary", "Serena"]>
iex(2)> b = ~w[Jim Mary John Bob] |> MapSet.new
#MapSet<["Bob", "Jim", "John", "Mary"]>
iex(3)> sym_dif = fn(a,b) -> MapSet.difference(MapSet.union(a,b), MapSet.intersection(a,b)) end
#Function<12.54118792/2 in :erl_eval.expr/5>
iex(4)> sym_dif.(a,b)
#MapSet<["Jim", "Serena"]>

Erlang

%% Implemented by Arjun Sunel
-module(symdiff).
-export([main/0]).

main() ->
	SetA = sets:from_list(["John","Bob","Mary","Serena"]),
	SetB = sets:from_list(["Jim","Mary","John","Bob"]),
	AUnionB = sets:union(SetA,SetB),
	AIntersectionB = sets:intersection(SetA,SetB),
	SymmDiffAB = sets:subtract(AUnionB,AIntersectionB),
	sets:to_list(SymmDiffAB).
Output:
["Serena","Jim"]

F#

> let a = set ["John"; "Bob"; "Mary"; "Serena"]
  let b = set ["Jim"; "Mary"; "John"; "Bob"];;

val a : Set<string> = set ["Bob"; "John"; "Mary"; "Serena"]
val b : Set<string> = set ["Bob"; "Jim"; "John"; "Mary"]

> (a-b) + (b-a);;
val it : Set<string> = set ["Jim"; "Serena"]

Or, if you don't like the infix operators:

> Set.union (Set.difference a b) (Set.difference b a);;
val it : Set<string> = set ["Jim"; "Serena"]

Factor

: symmetric-diff ( a b -- c )
    [ diff ] [ swap diff ] 2bi append ;

{ "John" "Bob" "Mary" "Serena" } { "Jim" "Mary" "John" "Bob" } symmetric-diff .

Forth

GForth 0.7.0 tested.

: elm	( n -- ; one cell per set )
	[ cell 8 * 1- ] literal umin CREATE 1 swap lshift , 
DOES> 	( -- 2^n ) @ ;

: universe	( u "name" -- )
	dup 0 DO I elm latest swap LOOP
	CREATE dup , 0 DO , LOOP
	DOES>  ( n a -- )  dup @ tuck cells +
		swap 0 
		DO	( n a' )
			over I rshift 1 AND 
			IF dup @ name>string space type THEN
			1 cells -
		LOOP	2drop ;

5 universe john bob mary serena jim	persons
john bob mary serena or or or
jim mary john bob    or or or

2dup xor           persons
2dup -1 xor and cr persons
swap -1 xor and cr persons
cr bye

Output:

$ gforth wrk.fs 
 serena jim
 serena
 jim
$ 

Fortran

Works with: Fortran version 90 and later
program Symmetric_difference
implicit none

  character(6) :: a(4) = (/ "John  ", "Bob   ", "Mary  ", "Serena" /)
  character(6) :: b(4) = (/ "Jim   ", "Mary  ", "John  ", "Bob   " /)
  integer :: i, j

outer1: do i = 1, size(a)
          do j = 1, i-1
            if(a(i) == a(j)) cycle outer1   ! Do not check duplicate items
          end do
          if(.not. any(b == a(i))) write(*,*) a(i)
        end do outer1
  
outer2: do i = 1, size(b)
          do j = 1, i-1
            if(b(i) == b(j)) cycle outer2   ! Do not check duplicate items
          end do
          if(.not. any(a == b(i))) write(*,*) b(i)
        end do outer2
      
end program

Output

Serena
Jim

FreeBASIC

redim shared as string Result(-1)   'represent our sets as strings;
                                'this'll do to illustrate the concept

sub sym( A() as string, B() as string )
    dim as integer ai, bi, ri
    dim as boolean add_it
    for ai = lbound(A) to ubound(A)
        add_it = true
        for bi = lbound(B) to ubound(B)
            if A(ai) = B(bi) then 
                add_it=false
                exit for    'if item is common to both lists, don't include it
            end if
        next bi
        if add_it then
            for ri = 0 to ubound(Result)
                if A(ai) = Result(ri) then 
                    add_it=false
                    exit for
                    'if item is already in the result, don't include it again
                end if
            next ri
        end if
        if add_it then
            redim preserve as string Result(0 to ubound(Result)+1)
            Result(ubound(Result)) = A(ai)
        end if

    next ai
end sub

dim as string A(0 to 3) = {"John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"}
dim as string B(0 to 4) = {"Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob", "Jim"}
                             'contains a double to show code can handle it
                             

sym(A(), B())
sym(B(), A())

for i as uinteger = 0 to ubound(Result)
    print Result(i)
next i
Output:
Serena

Jim

Frink

A = new set["John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"]
B = new set["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob"]

println["Symmetric difference:  " + symmetricDifference[A,B]]
println["A - B               :  " + setDifference[A,B]]
println["B - A               :  " + setDifference[B,A]]
Output:
Symmetric difference:  [Jim, Serena]
A - B               :  [Serena]
B - A               :  [Jim]

FutureBasic

include "NSLog.incl"

local fn SymmetricDifferenceOfSets( setA as CFSetRef, setB as CFSetRef ) as CFSetRef
  CFMutableSetRef notInSetA = fn MutableSetWithSet( setB )
  MutableSetMinusSet( notInSetA, setA )
  CFMutableSetRef notInSetB = fn MutableSetWithSet( setA )
  MutableSetMinusSet( notInSetB, setB )
  CFMutableSetRef symmetricDifference = fn MutableSetWithSet( notInSetA )
  MutableSetUnionSet( symmetricDifference, notInSetB )
end fn = fn SetWithSet( symmetricDifference )

CFSetRef set1, set2

set1 = fn SetWithObjects( @"John", @"Serena", @"Bob",  @"Mary", @"Serena", NULL )
set2 = fn SetWithObjects( @"Jim",  @"Mary",   @"John", @"Jim",  @"Bob",    NULL )

NSLog( @"Symmetric difference:\n%@", fn SymmetricDifferenceOfSets( set1, set2 ) )

HandleEvents
Output:
Symmetric difference:
{(
    Jim,
    Serena
)}

GAP

SymmetricDifference := function(a, b)
  return Union(Difference(a, b), Difference(b, a));
end;

a := ["John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"];
b := ["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"];
SymmetricDifference(a,b);
[ "Jim", "Serena" ]

Go

package main

import "fmt"

var a = map[string]bool{"John": true, "Bob": true, "Mary": true, "Serena": true}
var b = map[string]bool{"Jim": true, "Mary": true, "John": true, "Bob": true}

func main() {
    sd := make(map[string]bool)
    for e := range a {
        if !b[e] {
            sd[e] = true
        }
    }
    for e := range b {
        if !a[e] {
            sd[e] = true
        }
    }
    fmt.Println(sd)
}

Output:

map[Jim:true Serena:true]

Alternatively, the following computes destructively on a. The result is the same.

func main() {
    for e := range b {
        delete(a, e)
    }
    fmt.Println(a)
}

Groovy

Solution:

def symDiff = { Set s1, Set s2 ->
    assert s1 != null
    assert s2 != null
    (s1 + s2) - (s1.intersect(s2))
}

Test:

Set a = ['John', 'Serena', 'Bob', 'Mary', 'Serena']
Set b = ['Jim', 'Mary', 'John', 'Jim', 'Bob']

assert a.size() == 4
assert a == (['Bob', 'John', 'Mary', 'Serena'] as Set)
assert b.size() == 4
assert b == (['Bob', 'Jim', 'John', 'Mary'] as Set)

def aa = symDiff(a, a)
def ab = symDiff(a, b)
def ba = symDiff(b, a)
def bb = symDiff(b, b)

assert aa.empty
assert bb.empty
assert ab == ba
assert ab == (['Jim', 'Serena'] as Set)
assert ab == (['Serena', 'Jim'] as Set)
 
println """
a: ${a}
b: ${b}
 
Symmetric Differences
=====================
a <> a: ${aa}
a <> b: ${ab}
b <> a: ${ba}
b <> b: ${bb}


"""

Set apostles = ['Matthew', 'Mark', 'Luke', 'John', 'Peter', 'Paul', 'Silas']
Set beatles = ['John', 'Paul', 'George', 'Ringo', 'Peter', 'Stuart']
Set csny = ['Crosby', 'Stills', 'Nash', 'Young']
Set ppm = ['Peter', 'Paul', 'Mary']
 
def AA = symDiff(apostles, apostles)
def AB = symDiff(apostles, beatles)
def AC = symDiff(apostles, csny)
def AP = symDiff(apostles, ppm)
 
def BA = symDiff(beatles, apostles)
def BB = symDiff(beatles, beatles)
def BC = symDiff(beatles, csny)
def BP = symDiff(beatles, ppm)
 
def CA = symDiff(csny, apostles)
def CB = symDiff(csny, beatles)
def CC = symDiff(csny, csny)
def CP = symDiff(csny, ppm)
 
def PA = symDiff(ppm, apostles)
def PB = symDiff(ppm, beatles)
def PC = symDiff(ppm, csny)
def PP = symDiff(ppm, ppm)
 
assert AB == BA
assert AC == CA
assert AP == PA
assert BC == CB
assert BP == PB
assert CP == PC
 
println """
apostles: ${apostles}
 beatles: ${beatles}
    csny: ${csny}
     ppm: ${ppm}
 
Symmetric Differences
=====================
apostles <> apostles: ${AA}
apostles <> beatles:  ${AB}
apostles <> csny:     ${AC}
apostles <> ppm:      ${AP}
 
beatles <> apostles:  ${BA}
beatles <> beatles:   ${BB}
beatles <> csny:      ${BC}
beatles <> ppm:       ${BP}
 
csny <> apostles:     ${CA}
csny <> beatles:      ${CB}
csny <> csny:         ${CC}
csny <> ppm:          ${CP}
 
ppm <> apostles:      ${PA}
ppm <> beatles:       ${PB}
ppm <> csny:          ${PC}
ppm <> ppm:           ${PP}
"""

Output:

a: [Mary, Bob, Serena, John]
b: [Mary, Bob, Jim, John]
 
Symmetric Differences
=====================
a <> a: []
a <> b: [Jim, Serena]
b <> a: [Jim, Serena]
b <> b: []




apostles: [Paul, Mark, Silas, Peter, Luke, John, Matthew]
 beatles: [Paul, Stuart, Ringo, Peter, John, George]
    csny: [Crosby, Young, Nash, Stills]
     ppm: [Paul, Mary, Peter]
 
Symmetric Differences
=====================
apostles <> apostles: []
apostles <> beatles:  [Mark, Silas, Stuart, Ringo, Luke, Matthew, George]
apostles <> csny:     [Paul, Crosby, Mark, Silas, Young, Peter, Luke, John, Matthew, Nash, Stills]
apostles <> ppm:      [Mark, Mary, Silas, Luke, John, Matthew]
 
beatles <> apostles:  [Mark, Stuart, Ringo, Silas, Luke, Matthew, George]
beatles <> beatles:   []
beatles <> csny:      [Paul, Crosby, Stuart, Ringo, Young, Peter, John, Nash, Stills, George]
beatles <> ppm:       [Mary, Stuart, Ringo, John, George]
 
csny <> apostles:     [Paul, Crosby, Mark, Silas, Young, Peter, Luke, John, Nash, Stills, Matthew]
csny <> beatles:      [Paul, Crosby, Stuart, Ringo, Young, Peter, John, Nash, Stills, George]
csny <> csny:         []
csny <> ppm:          [Paul, Crosby, Mary, Young, Peter, Nash, Stills]
 
ppm <> apostles:      [Mark, Mary, Silas, Luke, John, Matthew]
ppm <> beatles:       [Mary, Stuart, Ringo, John, George]
ppm <> csny:          [Paul, Crosby, Mary, Young, Peter, Nash, Stills]
ppm <> ppm:           []

Haskell

import Data.Set

a = fromList ["John", "Bob",  "Mary", "Serena"]
b = fromList ["Jim",  "Mary", "John", "Bob"]

(-|-) :: Ord a => Set a -> Set a -> Set a
x -|- y = (x \\ y) `union` (y \\ x)
  -- Equivalently: (x `union` y) \\ (x `intersect` y)

Symmetric difference:

*Main> a -|- b
fromList ["Jim","Serena"]

Individual differences:

*Main> a \\ b
fromList ["Serena"]

*Main> b \\ a
fromList ["Jim"]

HicEst

CALL SymmDiff("John,Serena,Bob,Mary,Serena,", "Jim,Mary,John,Jim,Bob,")
CALL SymmDiff("John,Bob,Mary,Serena,", "Jim,Mary,John,Bob,")

SUBROUTINE SymmDiff(set1, set2)
  CHARACTER set1, set2, answer*50
  answer = " "
  CALL setA_setB( set1, set2, answer )
  CALL setA_setB( set2, set1, answer )
  WRITE(Messagebox,Name) answer          ! answer = "Serena,Jim," in both cases
END

SUBROUTINE setA_setB( set1, set2, differences )
  CHARACTER set1, set2, differences, a*100
  a = set1
  EDIT(Text=a, $inLeXicon=set2)     ! eg   a <= $John,Serena,$Bob,$Mary,Serena,
  EDIT(Text=a, Right="$", Mark1, Right=",", Mark2, Delete, DO) ! Serena,Serena,
  EDIT(Text=a, Option=1, SortDelDbls=a) ! Option=1: keep case;          Serena,
  differences = TRIM( differences ) // a
END

Icon and Unicon

Set operations are built into Icon/Unicon.

procedure main()

a := set(["John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"])
b := set(["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"])

showset("a",a)
showset("b",b)
showset("(a\\b) \xef (b\\a)",(a -- b) ++ (b -- a))
showset("(a\\b)",a -- b)
showset("(b\\a)",b -- a)
end  


procedure showset(n,x)
writes(n," = { ")
every writes(!x," ")
write("}")
return
end

Sample output:

a = { Serena Mary Bob John }
b = { Mary Bob Jim John }
(a\b) ∩ (b\a) = { Serena Jim }
(a\b) = { Serena }
(b\a) = { Jim }

J

   A=: ~.;:'John Serena Bob Mary Serena'
   B=: ~. ;:'Jim Mary John Jim Bob'

   (A-.B) , (B-.A)   NB. Symmetric Difference
┌──────┬───┐
SerenaJim
└──────┴───┘
   A (-. , -.~) B    NB. Tacit equivalent
┌──────┬───┐
SerenaJim
└──────┴───┘

To illustrate some of the underlying mechanics used here:

   A -. B            NB. items in A but not in B
┌──────┐
Serena
└──────┘
   A -.~ B           NB. items in B but not in A
┌───┐
Jim
└───┘
   A                 NB. A is a sequence without duplicates
┌────┬──────┬───┬────┐
JohnSerenaBobMary
└────┴──────┴───┴────┘

Here's an alternative implementation:

   A (, -. [ -. -.) B
┌──────┬───┐
SerenaJim
└──────┴───┘

Here, (,) contains all items from A and B and ([ -. -.) is the idiom for set intersection, and their difference is the symmetric difference. (Note: an individual word in a J sentence may be placed inside a parenthesis with no change in evaluation, and this can also be used for emphasis when a word might get lost.)

Java

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.HashSet;
import java.util.Set;

public class SymmetricDifference {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Set<String> setA = new HashSet<String>(Arrays.asList("John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"));
        Set<String> setB = new HashSet<String>(Arrays.asList("Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"));

        // Present our initial data set
        System.out.println("In set A: " + setA);
        System.out.println("In set B: " + setB);

        // Option 1: union of differences
        // Get our individual differences.
        Set<String> notInSetA = new HashSet<String>(setB);
        notInSetA.removeAll(setA);
        Set<String> notInSetB = new HashSet<String>(setA);
        notInSetB.removeAll(setB);
 
        // The symmetric difference is the concatenation of the two individual differences
        Set<String> symmetricDifference = new HashSet<String>(notInSetA);
        symmetricDifference.addAll(notInSetB);
        
        // Option 2: union minus intersection
        // Combine both sets
        Set<String> union = new HashSet<String>(setA);
        union.addAll(setB);
        
        // Get the intersection
        Set<String> intersection = new HashSet<String>(setA);
        intersection.retainAll(setB);
        
        // The symmetric difference is the union of the 2 sets minus the intersection
        Set<String> symmetricDifference2 = new HashSet<String>(union);
        symmetricDifference2.removeAll(intersection);
 
        // Present our results
        System.out.println("Not in set A: " + notInSetA);
        System.out.println("Not in set B: " + notInSetB);
        System.out.println("Symmetric Difference: " + symmetricDifference);
        System.out.println("Symmetric Difference 2: " + symmetricDifference2);
    }
}

Output:

In set A: [Mary, Bob, Serena, John]
In set B: [Mary, Bob, Jim, John]
Not in set A: [Jim]
Not in set B: [Serena]
Symmetric Difference: [Jim, Serena]
Symmetric Difference 2: [Jim, Serena]

JavaScript

ES5

Iterative

Works with: JavaScript version 1.6
Works with: Firefox version 1.5
Works with: SpiderMonkey
for the print() function.

Uses the Array function unique() defined here.

// in A but not in B
function relative_complement(A, B) {
    return A.filter(function(elem) {return B.indexOf(elem) == -1});
}

// in A or in B but not in both
function symmetric_difference(A,B) {
    return relative_complement(A,B).concat(relative_complement(B,A));
}

var a = ["John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"].unique(); 
var b = ["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"].unique();

print(a);
print(b);
print(symmetric_difference(a,b));

outputs

Bob,John,Mary,Serena
Bob,Jim,John,Mary
Serena,Jim

Clear JavaScript

function Difference(A,B)
{
    var a = A.length, b = B.length, c = 0, C = [];
    for (var i = 0; i < a; i++)
     { var j = 0, k = 0;
       while (j < b && B[j] !== A[i]) j++;
       while (k < c && C[k] !== A[i]) k++;
       if (j == b && k == c) C[c++] = A[i];
     }
    return C;
}

function SymmetricDifference(A,B)
{  
    var D1 = Difference(A,B), D2 = Difference(B,A),
        a = D1.length, b = D2.length;
    for (var i = 0; i < b; i++) D1[a++] = D2[i];
    return D1;
}


/* Example
   A = ['John', 'Serena', 'Bob', 'Mary', 'Serena'];
   B = ['Jim', 'Mary', 'John', 'Jim', 'Bob'];
   
   Difference(A,B);           // 'Serena'
   Difference(B,A);           // 'Jim'
   SymmetricDifference(A,B);  // 'Serena','Jim'
*/

ES6

Functional

By composition of generic functions;

(() => {
    'use strict';

    const symmetricDifference = (xs, ys) =>
        union(difference(xs, ys), difference(ys, xs));


    // GENERIC FUNCTIONS ------------------------------------------------------

    // First instance of x (if any) removed from xs
    // delete_ :: Eq a => a -> [a] -> [a]
    const delete_ = (x, xs) => {
        const i = xs.indexOf(x);
        return i !== -1 ? (xs.slice(0, i)
            .concat(xs.slice(i, -1))) : xs;
    };

    //  (\\)  :: (Eq a) => [a] -> [a] -> [a]
    const difference = (xs, ys) =>
        ys.reduce((a, x) => filter(z => z !== x, a), xs);

    // filter :: (a -> Bool) -> [a] -> [a]
    const filter = (f, xs) => xs.filter(f);

    // flip :: (a -> b -> c) -> b -> a -> c
    const flip = f => (a, b) => f.apply(null, [b, a]);

    // foldl :: (b -> a -> b) -> b -> [a] -> b
    const foldl = (f, a, xs) => xs.reduce(f, a);

    // nub :: [a] -> [a]
    const nub = xs => {
        const mht = unconsMay(xs);
        return mht.nothing ? xs : (
            ([h, t]) => [h].concat(nub(t.filter(s => s !== h)))
        )(mht.just);
    };

    // show :: a -> String
    const show = x => JSON.stringify(x, null, 2);

    // unconsMay :: [a] -> Maybe (a, [a])
    const unconsMay = xs => xs.length > 0 ? {
        just: [xs[0], xs.slice(1)],
        nothing: false
    } : {
        nothing: true
    };

    // union :: [a] -> [a] -> [a]
    const union = (xs, ys) => {
        const sx = nub(xs);
        return sx.concat(foldl(flip(delete_), nub(ys), sx));
    };

    // TEST -------------------------------------------------------------------
    const
        a = ["John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"],
        b = ["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"];

    return show(
        symmetricDifference(a, b)
    );
})();
Output:
["Serena", "Jim"]

Procedural

const symmetricDifference = (...args) => {
    let result = new Set();
    for (const x of args)
        for (const e of new Set(x))
            if (result.has(e)) result.delete(e)
    		else result.add(e);

    return [...result];
}
 // TEST -------------------------------------------------------------------
console.log(symmetricDifference(["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"],["John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"]));
console.log(symmetricDifference([1, 2, 5], [2, 3, 5], [3, 4, 5]));
Output:
["Jim", "Serena"]
[1, 4, 5]

jq

The following implementation of symmetric_difference(a;b) makes no assumptions about the input lists except that neither contains null; given these assumptions, it is quite efficient. To workaround the no-null requirement would be tedious but straightforward.

# The following implementation of intersection (but not symmetric_difference) assumes that the
# elements of a (and of b) are unique and do not include null:
def intersection(a; b): 
  reduce ((a + b) | sort)[] as $i
    ([null, []]; if .[0] == $i then [null, .[1] + [$i]] else [$i, .[1]] end)
  | .[1] ;

def symmetric_difference(a;b):
  (a|unique) as $a | (b|unique) as $b 
  | (($a + $b) | unique) - (intersection($a;$b));
Example:
symmetric_difference( [1,2,1,2]; [2,3] )
[1,3]

Julia

Works with: Julia version 0.6

Built-in function.

A = ["John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"]
B = ["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob"]
@show A B symdiff(A, B)
Output:
A = String["John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"]
B = String["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob"]
symdiff(A, B) = String["Serena", "Jim"]

K

  A: ?("John";"Bob";"Mary";"Serena")
  B: ?("Jim";"Mary";"John";"Bob")

  A _dvl B               / in A but not in B
"Serena"
  B _dvl A               / in B but not in A
"Jim"
  (A _dvl B;B _dvl A)    / Symmetric difference
("Serena"
 "Jim")

Kotlin

// version 1.1.2

fun main(args: Array<String>) {
    val a = setOf("John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena")
    val b = setOf("Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob")
    println("A     = $a")
    println("B     = $b")
    val c =  a - b
    println("A \\ B = $c")
    val d = b - a
    println("B \\ A = $d")
    val e = c.union(d)
    println("A Δ B = $e")
}
Output:
A     = [John, Bob, Mary, Serena]
B     = [Jim, Mary, John, Bob]
A \ B = [Serena]
B \ A = [Jim]
A Δ B = [Serena, Jim]

Ksh

#!/bin/ksh

# Symmetric difference - enumerate the items that are in A or B but not both.

#	# Variables:
#
typeset -a A=( John Bob Mary Serena )
typeset -a B=( Jim Mary John Bob )

#	# Functions:
#
#	# Function _flattenarr(arr, sep) - flatten arr into string by separator sep
#
function _flattenarr {
	typeset _arr ; nameref _arr="$1"
	typeset _sep ; typeset -L1 _sep="$2"
	typeset _buff
	typeset _oldIFS=$IFS ; IFS="${_sep}"

	_buff=${_arr[*]}
	IFS="${_oldIFS}"
	echo "${_buff}"
}

#	# Function _notin(_arr1, _arr2) - elements in arr1 and not in arr2
#
function _notin {
	typeset _ar1 ; nameref _ar1="$1"
	typeset _ar2 ; nameref _ar2="$2"
	typeset _i _buff _set ; integer _i

	_buff=$(_flattenarr _ar2 \|)
	for((_i=0; _i<${#_ar1[*]}; _i++)); do
		[[ ${_ar1[_i]} != @(${_buff}) ]] && _set+="${_ar1[_i]} "
	done
	echo ${_set% *}
}

 ######
# main #
 ######

AnB=$(_notin A B) ; echo "A - B   = ${AnB}"
BnA=$(_notin B A) ; echo "B - A   = ${BnA}"
echo "A xor B = ${AnB} ${BnA}"
Output:
A - B   = Serena

B - A = Jim

A xor B = Serena Jim

Lasso

[
var(
    'a'  = array(
       'John'
      ,'Bob'
      ,'Mary'
      ,'Serena'
    )

   ,'b'  = array

);

$b->insert( 'Jim' ); // Alternate method of populating array
$b->insert( 'Mary' );
$b->insert( 'John' );
$b->insert( 'Bob' );

$a->sort( true ); // arrays must be sorted (true = ascending) for difference to work
$b->sort( true );

$a->difference( $b )->union( $b->difference( $a ) );

]

Works with: UCB Logo
to diff :a :b [:acc []]
  if empty? :a [output sentence :acc :b]
  ifelse member? first :a :b ~
    [output (diff butfirst :a  remove first :a :b  :acc)] ~
    [output (diff butfirst :a  :b    lput first :a :acc)]
end

make "a [John Bob Mary Serena]
make "b [Jim Mary John Bob]

show diff :a :b   ; [Serena Jim]

Lua

A = { ["John"] = true, ["Bob"] = true, ["Mary"] = true, ["Serena"] = true }
B = { ["Jim"] = true, ["Mary"] = true, ["John"] = true, ["Bob"] = true }

A_B = {}
for a in pairs(A) do
    if not B[a] then A_B[a] = true end
end

B_A = {}
for b in pairs(B) do
    if not A[b] then B_A[b] = true end
end

for a_b in pairs(A_B) do
    print( a_b )
end
for b_a in pairs(B_A) do
    print( b_a )
end

Object-oriented approach:

SetPrototype = {
    __index = {
        union = function(self, other)
            local res = Set{}
            for k in pairs(self) do res[k] = true end
            for k in pairs(other) do res[k] = true end
            return res
        end,
        intersection = function(self, other)
            local res = Set{}
            for k in pairs(self) do res[k] = other[k] end
            return res
        end,
        difference = function(self, other)
            local res = Set{}
            for k in pairs(self) do
                if not other[k] then res[k] = true end
            end
            return res
        end,
        symmetric_difference = function(self, other)
            return self:difference(other):union(other:difference(self))
        end
    },
    -- return string representation of set
    __tostring = function(self)
        -- list to collect all elements from the set
        local l = {}
        for k in pairs(self) do l[#l+1] = k end
        return "{" .. table.concat(l, ", ") .. "}"
    end,
    -- allow concatenation with other types to yield string
    __concat = function(a, b)
        return (type(a) == 'string' and a or tostring(a)) ..
            (type(b) == 'string' and b or tostring(b))
    end
}

function Set(items)
    local _set = {}
    setmetatable(_set, SetPrototype)
    for _, item in ipairs(items) do _set[item] = true end
    return _set
end

A = Set{"John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"}
B = Set{"Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"}

print("Set A: " .. A)
print("Set B: " .. B)

print("\nSymm. difference (A\\B)∪(B\\A): " .. A:symmetric_difference(B))
print("Union            A∪B        : " .. A:union(B))
print("Intersection     A∩B        : " .. A:intersection(B))
print("Difference       A\\B        : " .. A:difference(B))
print("Difference       B\\A        : " .. B:difference(A))

Output:

   Set A: {Serena, Mary, John, Bob}
   Set B: {Mary, Jim, John, Bob}
   
   Symm. difference (A\B)∪(B\A): {Serena, Jim}
   Union            A∪B        : {John, Serena, Jim, Mary, Bob}
   Intersection     A∩B        : {Mary, John, Bob}
   Difference       A\B        : {Serena}
   Difference       B\A        : {Jim}

Maple

Maple has built-in support for set operations. Assign the sets A and B:

A := {John, Bob, Mary, Serena};
B := {Jim, Mary, John, Bob};

Now compute the symmetric difference with the symmdiff command:

symmdiff(A, B);
Output:
                        {Jim, Serena}

Mathematica/Wolfram Language

Mathematica has built-in support for operations on sets, using its generic symbolic lists. This function finds the entries in each list that are not present in the intersection of the two lists.

SymmetricDifference[x_List,y_List] := Join[Complement[x,Intersection[x,y]],Complement[y,Intersection[x,y]]]

For large lists, some performance improvement could be made by caching the intersection of the two lists to avoid computing it twice:

CachedSymmetricDifference[x_List,y_List] := Module[{intersect=Intersection[x,y]},Join[Complement[x,intersect],Complement[y,intersect]]]

Also, due to Mathematica's symbolic nature, these functions are automatically applicable to lists of any content, such as strings, integers, reals, graphics, or undefined generic symbols (e.g. unassigned variables).

MATLAB

If you are using a vector of numbers as the sets of which you like to find the symmetric difference, then there are already utilities that operate on these types of sets built into MATLAB. This code will take the symmetric difference of two vectors:

>> [setdiff([1 2 3],[2 3 4]) setdiff([2 3 4],[1 2 3])]

ans =

     1     4

On the other hand, if you are using cell-arrays as sets, there are no built-in set utilities to operate on those data structures, so you will have to program them yourself. Also, the only way to have a set of strings is to put each string in a cell of a cell array, trying to put them into a vector will cause all of the strings to concatenate.

This code will return the symmetric difference of two sets and will take both cell arrays and vectors (as in the above example) as inputs.

function resultantSet = symmetricDifference(set1,set2)
 
    assert( ~xor(iscell(set1),iscell(set2)), 'Both sets must be of the same type, either cells or matricies, but not a combination of the two' );
%% Helper function definitions
 
    %Define what set equality means for cell arrays
    function trueFalse = equality(set1,set2)
        if xor(iscell(set1),iscell(set2)) %set1 or set2 is a set and the other isn't
            trueFalse = false;
            return
        elseif ~(iscell(set1) || iscell(set2)) %set1 and set2 are not sets
            if ischar(set1) && ischar(set2) %set1 and set2 are chars or strings
                trueFalse = strcmp(set1,set2);
            elseif xor(ischar(set1),ischar(set2)) %set1 or set2 is a string but the other isn't
                trueFalse = false;
            else %set1 and set2 are not strings
                if numel(set1) == numel(set2) %Since they must be matricies if the are of equal cardinality then they can be compaired
                    trueFalse = all((set1 == set2));
                else %If they aren't of equal cardinality then they can't be equal
                    trueFalse = false;
                end
            end
            return
        else %set1 and set2 are both sets
 
            for x = (1:numel(set1))
                trueFalse = false;
                for y = (1:numel(set2))
 
                    %Compair the current element of set1 with every element
                    %in set2
                    trueFalse = equality(set1{x},set2{y});
 
                    %If the element of set1 is equal to the current element
                    %of set2 remove that element from set2 and break out of
                    %this inner loop
                    if trueFalse
                        set2(y) = [];
                        break
                    end
                end
 
                %If the loop completes without breaking then the current
                %element of set1 is not contained in set2 therefore the two
                %sets are not equal and we can return an equality of false
                if (~trueFalse)
                    return
                end
            end
 
            %If, after checking every element in both sets, there are still
            %elements in set2 then the two sets are not equivalent
            if ~isempty(set2)
                trueFalse = false;
            end
            %If the executation makes it here without the previous if
            %statement evaluating to true, then this function will return
            %true.
        end
    end %equality
 
    %Define the relative complement for cell arrays
    function set1 = relativeComplement(set1,set2)
 
        for k = (1:numel(set2))
 
            if numel(set1) == 0
                return
            end
 
            j = 1;
            while j <= numel(set1)
                if equality(set1{j},set2{k})
                    set1(j) = [];
                    j = j-1;
                end
                j = j+1;
            end
        end
    end %relativeComplement
 
%% The Symmetric Difference Algorithm    
    if iscell(set1) && iscell(set2)
        resultantSet = [relativeComplement(set1,set2) relativeComplement(set2,set1)];
    else
        resultantSet = [setdiff(set1,set2) setdiff(set2,set1)];
    end
 
    resultantSet = unique(resultantSet); %Make sure there are not duplicates
    
end %symmetricDifference

Solution Test:

>> A = {'John','Bob','Mary','Serena'}

A = 

    'John'    'Bob'    'Mary'    'Serena'

>> B = {'Jim','Mary','John','Bob'}

B = 

    'Jim'    'Mary'    'John'    'Bob'

>> symmetricDifference(A,B)

ans = 

    'Serena'    'Jim' %Correct

>> symmetricDifference([1 2 3],[2 3 4])

ans =

     1     4 %Correct

Maxima

/* builtin */
symmdifference({"John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"},
               {"Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob"});
{"Jim", "Serena"}

Mercury

:- module symdiff.
:- interface.

:- import_module io.
:- pred main(io::di, io::uo) is det.

:- implementation.
:- import_module list, set, string.

main(!IO) :-
    A = set(["John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"]),
    B = set(["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob"]),
    print_set("A\\B", DiffAB @ (A `difference` B), !IO),
    print_set("B\\A", DiffBA @ (B `difference` A), !IO),
    print_set("A symdiff B", DiffAB `union` DiffBA, !IO).

:- pred print_set(string::in, set(T)::in, io::di, io::uo) is det.

print_set(Desc, Set, !IO) :-
   to_sorted_list(Set, Elems),
   io.format("%11s: %s\n", [s(Desc), s(string(Elems))], !IO).

MiniScript

Set = new map
Set["set"] = {}

Set.init = function(items)
	set = new Set
	set.set = {}
	for item in items
		set.add(item)
	end for
	return set
end function

Set.contains = function(item)
	return self.set.hasIndex(item)
end function

Set.items = function
	return self.set.indexes
end function

Set.add = function(item)
	self.set[item] = true
end function

Set.union = function(other)
	result = Set.init
	result.set = self.set + other.set
	return result
end function

Set.difference = function(other)
	result = Set.init
	for item in self.items
		if not other.contains(item) then result.add(item)
	end for
	return result
end function

Set.symmetricDifference = function(other)
	diff1 = self.difference(other)
	diff2 = other.difference(self)
	return diff1.union(diff2)
end function

a = ["John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"]
b = ["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"]

A1 = Set.init(a)
B1 = Set.init(b)

print "A XOR B " + A1.symmetricDifference(B1).items
print "A - B " + A1.difference(B1).items
print "B - A " + B1.difference(A1).items
Output:
A XOR B ["Serena", "Jim"]
A - B ["Serena"]
B - A ["Jim"]

Miranda

main :: [sys_message]
main = [Stdout (show (symdiff a b) ++ "\n")]
       where a = ["John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"]
             b = ["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"]

symdiff :: [*]->[*]->[*]
symdiff a b = (a' -- b') ++ (b' -- a')
              where a' = nub a
                    b' = nub b

nub :: [*]->[*]
nub = f []
      where f acc []     = acc
            f acc (a:as) = f acc as,     if a $in acc
                         = f (a:acc) as, otherwise

in :: *->[*]->bool
in i []     = False
in i (a:as) = a == i \/ i $in as
Output:
["Serena","Jim"]

Nim

import sets

var setA = ["John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"].toHashSet
var setB = ["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob"].toHashSet
echo setA -+- setB  # Symmetric difference
echo setA - setB    # Difference
echo setB - setA    # Difference

Output:

{Serena, Jim}
{Serena}
{Jim}

Objective-C

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

int main(int argc, const char *argv[]) {
  @autoreleasepool {

    NSSet* setA = [NSSet setWithObjects:@"John", @"Serena", @"Bob", @"Mary", @"Serena", nil];
    NSSet* setB = [NSSet setWithObjects:@"Jim", @"Mary", @"John", @"Jim", @"Bob", nil];

    // Present our initial data set
    NSLog(@"In set A: %@", setA);
    NSLog(@"In set B: %@", setB);

    // Get our individual differences.
    NSMutableSet* notInSetA = [NSMutableSet setWithSet:setB];
    [notInSetA minusSet:setA];
    NSMutableSet* notInSetB = [NSMutableSet setWithSet:setA];
    [notInSetB minusSet:setB];

    // The symmetric difference is the concatenation of the two individual differences
    NSMutableSet* symmetricDifference = [NSMutableSet setWithSet:notInSetA];
    [symmetricDifference unionSet:notInSetB];

    // Present our results
    NSLog(@"Not in set A: %@", notInSetA);
    NSLog(@"Not in set B: %@", notInSetB);
    NSLog(@"Symmetric Difference: %@", symmetricDifference);

  }
  return 0;
}

OCaml

let unique lst =
  let f lst x = if List.mem x lst then lst else x::lst in
  List.rev (List.fold_left f [] lst)

let ( -| ) a b =
  unique (List.filter (fun v -> not (List.mem v b)) a)

let ( -|- ) a b = (b -| a) @ (a -| b)

in the toplevel:

# let a = [ "John"; "Bob"; "Mary"; "Serena" ]
  and b = [ "Jim"; "Mary"; "John"; "Bob" ]
  ;;
val a : string list = ["John"; "Bob"; "Mary"; "Serena"]
val b : string list = ["Jim"; "Mary"; "John"; "Bob"]

# a -|- b ;;
- : string list = ["Jim"; "Serena"]

# a -| b ;;
- : string list = ["Serena"]

# b -| a ;;
- : string list = ["Jim"]

ooRexx

a = .set~of("John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena")
b = .set~of("Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob")
-- the xor operation is a symmetric difference
do item over a~xor(b)
   say item
end

Output:

Serena
Jim      

Oz

Oz does not have a general set data type. We can implement some basic set operations in terms of list functions and use them to define the symmetric difference:

declare
  fun {SymDiff A B}
     {Union {Diff A B} {Diff B A}}
  end

  %% implement sets in terms of lists
  fun {MakeSet Xs}
     set({Nub2 Xs nil})
  end

  fun {Diff set(A) set(B)}
     set({FoldL B List.subtract A})
  end
 
  fun {Union set(A) set(B)}
     set({Append A B})
  end

  %% --
  fun {Nub2 Xs Ls}
     case Xs of nil then nil
     [] X|Xr andthen {Member X Ls} then {Nub2 Xr Ls}
     [] X|Xr then X|{Nub2 Xr X|Ls}
     end
  end
in
  {Show {SymDiff
	 {MakeSet [john bob mary serena]}
	 {MakeSet [jim mary john bob]}}}
  {Show {SymDiff
	 {MakeSet [john serena bob mary serena]}
	 {MakeSet [jim mary john jim bob]}}}

Oz does have a type for finite sets of non-negative integers. This is part of the constraint programming support. For the given task, we could use it like this if we assume numbers instead of names:

declare
  fun {SymDiff A B}
     {FS.union {FS.diff A B} {FS.diff B A}}
  end

  A = {FS.value.make [1 2 3 4]}
  B = {FS.value.make [5 3 1 2]}
in
  {Show {SymDiff A B}}

PARI/GP

sd(u,v)={
  my(r=List());
  u=vecsort(u,,8);
  v=vecsort(v,,8);
  for(i=1,#u,if(!setsearch(v,u[i]),listput(r,u[i])));
  for(i=1,#v,if(!setsearch(u,v[i]),listput(r,v[i])));
  Vec(r)
};
sd(["John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"],["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"])

Pascal

Works with: FPC 3.0.2
PROGRAM Symmetric_difference;

TYPE
  TName = (Bob, Jim, John, Mary, Serena);
  TList = SET OF TName;

PROCEDURE Put(txt : String; ResSet : TList);
VAR
  I : TName;

BEGIN
  Write(txt);
  FOR I IN ResSet DO Write(I,' ');
  WriteLn
END;

VAR
  ListA : TList = [John, Bob, Mary, Serena];
  ListB : TList = [Jim, Mary, John, Bob];

BEGIN
  Put('ListA          -> ', ListA);
  Put('ListB          -> ', ListB);
  Put('ListA >< ListB -> ', ListA >< ListB);
  Put('ListA -  ListB -> ', ListA -  ListB);
  Put('ListB -  ListA -> ', ListB -  ListA);
  ReadLn;
END.
Output:
ListA          -> Bob John Mary Serena
ListB          -> Bob Jim John Mary
ListA >< ListB -> Jim Serena
ListA -  ListB -> Serena
ListB -  ListA -> Jim

Object Pascal actually has a 'Symmetric Difference' operator `> <`:

program SymmetricDifference;

type
    charSet = set of Char;

var
    s1, s2, s3: charSet;
    ch: char;

begin
    s1 := ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'];
    s2 := ['c', 'd', 'e', 'f'];
    s3 := s1 >< s2;

    for ch in s3 do
        write(ch, ' ');
    writeLn;
end.

Output:

a b e f 

Perl

sub symm_diff {
        # two lists passed in as references
        my %in_a = map(($_=>1), @{+shift});
        my %in_b = map(($_=>1), @{+shift});

        my @a = grep { !$in_b{$_} } keys %in_a;
        my @b = grep { !$in_a{$_} } keys %in_b;

        # return A-B, B-A, A xor B as ref to lists
        return \@a, \@b, [ @a, @b ]
}

my @a = qw(John Serena Bob  Mary Serena);
my @b = qw(Jim  Mary   John Jim  Bob   );

my ($a, $b, $s) = symm_diff(\@a, \@b);
print "A\\B: @$a\nB\\A: @$b\nSymm: @$s\n";
Output:
A\B: Serena
B\A: Jim
Symm: Serena Jim

Phix

function Union(sequence a, sequence b)
    for i=1 to length(a) do
        if not find(a[i],b) then
            b = append(b,a[i])
        end if
    end for
    return b
end function
 
function Difference(sequence a, sequence b)
sequence res = {}
    for i=1 to length(a) do
        if not find(a[i],b)
        and not find(a[i],res) then
            res = append(res,a[i])
        end if
    end for
    return res
end function
 
function Symmetric_Difference(sequence a, sequence b)
    return Union(Difference(a, b), Difference(b, a))
end function
 
sequence a = {"John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"},
         b = {"Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"}
?Symmetric_Difference(a,a)
?Symmetric_Difference(a,b)
?Symmetric_Difference(b,a)
?Symmetric_Difference(b,b)
Output:
{}
{"Jim","Serena"}
{"Serena","Jim"}
{}

You can also use the builtin (which defaults to symmetic differences), though it will crash if you pass it "sets" with duplicate elements.

include sets.e
sequence a = {"John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary"},
         b = {"Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob"}
?difference(a,a)
?difference(a,b)
?difference(b,a)
?difference(b,b)

Same output as above

PHP

<?php
$a = array('John', 'Bob', 'Mary', 'Serena');
$b = array('Jim', 'Mary', 'John', 'Bob');

// Remove any duplicates
$a = array_unique($a);
$b = array_unique($b);

// Get the individual differences, using array_diff()
$a_minus_b = array_diff($a, $b);
$b_minus_a = array_diff($b, $a);
 
// Simply merge them together to get the symmetric difference
$symmetric_difference = array_merge($a_minus_b, $b_minus_a);

// Present our results.
echo 'List A:               ', implode(', ', $a),
   "\nList B:               ", implode(', ', $b),
  "\nA \\ B:                ", implode(', ', $a_minus_b),
  "\nB \\ A:                ", implode(', ', $b_minus_a),
   "\nSymmetric difference: ", implode(', ', $symmetric_difference), "\n";
?>

This outputs:

List A:               John, Bob, Mary, Serena
List B:               Jim, Mary, John, Bob
A \ B:                Serena
B \ A:                Jim
Symmetric difference: Serena, Jim

Picat

Using the ordset module.

import ordset.

go =>
  A = ["John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"].new_ordset(),
  B = ["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"].new_ordset(),

  println(symmetric_difference=symmetric_difference(A,B)),
  println(symmetric_difference2=symmetric_difference2(A,B)),

  println(subtractAB=subtract(A,B)),
  println(subtractBA=subtract(B,A)),

  println(union=union(A,B)),
  println(intersection=intersection(A,B)),  
  nl.

symmetric_difference(A,B) = union(subtract(A,B), subtract(B,A)).
% variant
symmetric_difference2(A,B) = subtract(union(A,B), intersection(B,A)).
Output:
symmetric_difference = [Jim,Serena]
symmetric_difference2 = [Jim,Serena]
subtractAB = [Serena]
subtractBA = [Jim]
union = [Bob,Jim,John,Mary,Serena]
intersection = [Bob,John,Mary]

PicoLisp

(de symdiff (A B)
   (uniq (conc (diff A B) (diff B A))) )

Output:

(symdiff '(John Serena Bob Mary Serena) '(Jim Mary John Jim Bob))
-> (Serena Jim)

Pike

The set type in Pike is 'multiset', that is, a value may appear multiple times and the difference operator only removes equal amounts of duplicates.

> multiset(string) A = (< "John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Bob", "Serena" >); 
> multiset(string) B = (< "Jim", "Mary", "Mary", "John", "Bob", "Jim" >);

> A^B;                                                               
Result: (< "Bob", "Serena", "Serena", "Mary", "Jim", "Jim" >)

The ^ operator treats arrays like multisets.

> array(string) A = ({ "John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena", "Bob" }); 
> array(string) B = ({ "Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob", "Mary" });
> A^B;
Result: ({ "Serena", "Serena", "Bob", "Jim", "Jim", "Mary"})

> Array.uniq((A-B)+(B-A));
Result: ({ "Serena", "Jim" })

Set operations are also possible with mappings. Here the difference operator works as expected:

> mapping(string:int) A = ([ "John":1, "Serena":1, "Bob":1, "Mary":1 ]);                     
> mapping(string:int) B = ([ "Jim":1, "Mary":1, "John":1, "Bob":1 ]);

> A^B;
Result: ([ "Jim": 1, "Serena": 1 ])

Lastly, there is a Set class.

> ADT.Set A = ADT.Set((< "John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena", "Bob" >));        
> ADT.Set B = ADT.Set((< "Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob", "Mary" >));      
> (A-B)+(B-A);
Result: ADT.Set({ "Serena", "Jim" })

PL/I

/* PL/I ***************************************************************
* 17.08.2013 Walter Pachl
**********************************************************************/
*process source attributes xref;
 sd: Proc Options(main);
 Dcl a(4) Char(20) Var Init('John','Bob','Mary','Serena');
 Dcl b(4) Char(20) Var Init('Jim','Mary','John','Bob');
 Call match(a,b);
 Call match(b,a);
 match: Proc(x,y);
 Dcl (x(*),y(*)) Char(*) Var;
 Dcl (i,j) Bin Fixed(31);
 Do i=1 To hbound(x);
   Do j=1 To hbound(y);
     If x(i)=y(j) Then Leave;
     End;
   If j>hbound(y) Then
     Put Edit(x(i))(Skip,a);
   End;
 End;
 End;

Output:

Serena
Jim     

PowerShell

$A = @( "John"
        "Bob"
        "Mary"
        "Serena" )
 
$B = @( "Jim"
        "Mary"
        "John"
        "Bob" )
 
#  Full commandlet name and full parameter names
Compare-Object -ReferenceObject $A -DifferenceObject $B
 
#  Same commandlet using an alias and positional parameters
Compare $A $B
 
#  A - B
Compare $A $B | Where SideIndicator -eq "<=" | Select -ExpandProperty InputObject
 
#  B - A
Compare $A $B | Where SideIndicator -eq "=>" | Select -ExpandProperty InputObject
Output:
InputObject SideIndicator
----------- -------------
Jim         =>           
Serena      <=           

InputObject SideIndicator
----------- -------------
Jim         =>           
Serena      <=           

Serena

Jim

Prolog

Works with: SWI-Prolog
sym_diff :-
    A = ['John', 'Serena', 'Bob', 'Mary', 'Serena'],
    B = ['Jim', 'Mary', 'John', 'Jim', 'Bob'],
    format('A : ~w~n', [A]),
    format('B : ~w~n', [B]),
    list_to_set(A, SA),
    list_to_set(B, SB),
    format('set from A : ~w~n', [SA]),
    format('set from B : ~w~n', [SB]),
    subtract(SA, SB, DAB),
    format('difference A\\B : ~w~n', [DAB]),
    subtract(SB, SA, DBA),
    format('difference B\\A : ~w~n', [DBA]),
    union(DAB, DBA, Diff),
    format('symetric difference : ~w~n', [Diff]).

output :

A : [John,Serena,Bob,Mary,Serena]
B : [Jim,Mary,John,Jim,Bob]
set from A : [John,Serena,Bob,Mary]
set from B : [Jim,Mary,John,Bob]
difference A\B : [Serena]
difference B\A : [Jim]
symetric difference : [Serena,Jim]
true.

PureBasic

Simple approach

Dim A.s(3)
Dim B.s(3)

A(0)="John": A(1)="Bob": A(2)="Mary": A(3)="Serena"
B(0)="Jim":  B(1)="Mary":B(2)="John": B(3)="Bob"

For a=0 To ArraySize(A())    ; A-B
  For b=0 To ArraySize(B())
    If A(a)=B(b)
      Break 
    ElseIf b=ArraySize(B())
      Debug A(a)
    EndIf
  Next b
Next a

For b=0 To ArraySize(B())     ; B-A
  For a=0 To ArraySize(A())
    If A(a)=B(b)
      Break 
    ElseIf a=ArraySize(A())
      Debug B(b)
    EndIf
  Next a
Next b

Solution using lists

DataSection
  SetA:
  Data.i 4
  Data.s "John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"
  ; Data.i 5
  ; Data.s "John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"
  SetB:
  Data.i 4
  Data.s "Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob"
  ; Data.i 5
  ; Data.s "Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"
EndDataSection

Procedure addElementsToSet(List x.s())
  ;requires the read pointer to be set prior to calling by using 'Restore'
  Protected i, count
  
  Read.i count
  For i = 1 To count
    AddElement(x())
    Read.s x()
  Next
EndProcedure

Procedure displaySet(List x.s())
  Protected i, count = ListSize(x())
  FirstElement(x())
  For i = 1 To count
    Print(x())
    NextElement(x())
    If i <> count: Print(", "): EndIf 
  Next
  PrintN("")
EndProcedure

Procedure symmetricDifference(List a.s(), List b.s(), List result.s())
  Protected ACount = ListSize(a()), BCount = ListSize(b()), prev.s
  
  ;this may leave set a and b in a different order
  SortList(a(),#PB_Sort_Ascending)
  SortList(b(),#PB_Sort_Ascending)
  
  FirstElement(a())
  FirstElement(b())
  LastElement(result()) ;add to end of result()
  While ACount > 0 Or BCount > 0
    If ACount <> 0 And BCount <> 0 And a() = b()
      ACount - 1: NextElement(a())
      BCount - 1: NextElement(b())
    ElseIf BCount = 0 Or (ACount <> 0 And a() < b())
      AddElement(result()): result() = a()
      prev = a(): Repeat: ACount - 1: NextElement(a()): Until ACount = 0 Or (a() <> prev)
    ElseIf ACount = 0 Or (BCount <> 0 And a() > b())
      AddElement(result()): result() = b()
      prev = b(): Repeat: BCount - 1: NextElement(b()): Until BCount = 0 Or (b() <> prev)
    EndIf 
  Wend 
EndProcedure 

If OpenConsole()
  NewList a.s(): Restore SetA: addElementsToSet(a())
  NewList b.s(): Restore SetB: addElementsToSet(b())
  Print("Set A: "): displaySet(a())
  Print("Set B: "): displaySet(b())
  
  NewList sd.s()
  symmetricDifference(a(), b(), sd())
  Print("Symmetric Difference: "): displaySet(sd())
  
  Print(#CRLF$ + #CRLF$ + "Press ENTER to exit")
  Input()
  CloseConsole()
EndIf

Sample output:

Set A: John, Bob, Mary, Serena
Set B: Jim, Mary, John, Bob
Symmetric Difference: Jim, Serena

Python

Python's set type supports difference as well as symmetric difference operators.

Python 3.x and Python 2.7 have syntax for set literals:

>>> setA = {"John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"}
>>> setB = {"Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob"}
>>> setA ^ setB # symmetric difference of A and B
{'Jim', 'Serena'}
>>> setA - setB # elements in A that are not in B
{'Serena'}
>>> setB - setA # elements in B that are not in A
{'Jim'}
>>> setA | setB # elements in A or B (union)
{'John', 'Bob', 'Jim', 'Serena', 'Mary'}
>>> setA & setB # elements in both A and B (intersection)
{'Bob', 'John', 'Mary'}

Note that the order of set elements is undefined.

Earlier versions of Python:

>>> setA = set(["John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"])
>>> setB = set(["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob"])
>>> setA ^ setB # symmetric difference of A and B
set(['Jim', 'Serena'])
>>> setA - setB # elements in A that are not in B
set(['Serena'])
>>> # and so on...

There is also a method call interface for these operations. In contrast to the operators above, they accept any iterables as arguments not just sets.

>>> setA.symmetric_difference(setB)
{'Jim', 'Serena'}
>>> setA.difference(setB)
{'Serena'}
>>> setB.difference(setA)
{'Jim'}
>>> setA.union(setB)
{'Jim', 'Mary', 'Serena', 'John', 'Bob'}
>>> setA.intersection(setB)
{'Mary', 'John', 'Bob'}

Quackery

  [ $ "rosetta/bitwisesets.qky" loadfile ] now!

( i.e. using the Quackery code for sets at 
  http://rosettacode.org/wiki/Set#Indexed_Bitmaps )

  set{ John Bob Mary Serena }set is A ( --> { )

  set{ Jim Mary John Bob }set    is B ( --> { )

  say "A \ B is " A B difference echoset cr

  say "B \ A is " B A difference echoset cr

  say "(A \ B) U (B \ A) is "
  A B difference B A difference union echoset cr

  say "(A U B) \ (A n B) is "
  A B union A B intersection difference echoset cr

  say "Using built-in symmetric difference: "
  A B symmdiff echoset cr
Output:
A \ B is { Serena }
B \ A is { Jim }
(A \ B) U (B \ A) is { Jim Serena }
(A U B) \ (A n B) is { Jim Serena }
Using built-in symmetric difference: { Jim Serena }

R

a <- c( "John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena" )
b <- c( "Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob" )
c(setdiff(b, a), setdiff(a, b))

a <- c("John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena")
b <- c("Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob")
c(setdiff(b, a), setdiff(a, b))

In both cases answer is:

[1] "Jim"    "Serena"

Racket

#lang racket
(define A (set "John" "Bob" "Mary" "Serena"))
(define B (set "Jim" "Mary" "John" "Bob"))

(set-symmetric-difference A B)
(set-subtract A B)
(set-subtract B A)

Raku

(formerly Perl 6)

my \A = set <John Serena Bob Mary Serena>;
my \B = set <Jim Mary John Jim Bob>;

say  AB; # Set subtraction
say  BA; # Set subtraction
say (AB) ∖ (AB);  # Symmetric difference, via basic set operations
say  AB;             # Symmetric difference, via dedicated operator
Output:
set(Serena)
set(Jim)
set(Jim, Serena)
set(Jim, Serena)

REBOL

a: [John Serena Bob Mary Serena]
b: [Jim Mary John Jim Bob]
difference a b

Result is

[Serena Jim]

Refal

$ENTRY Go {
    , John Bob Mary Serena: e.A
    , Jim Mary John Bob: e.B
    = <Prout <Symdiff (e.A) (e.B)>>;
};

Symdiff {
    (e.1) (e.2), <Diff (<Set e.1>) (<Set e.2>)>: e.3
               , <Diff (<Set e.2>) (<Set e.1>)>: e.4
               = <Union (e.3) (e.4)>;
};

Set {
    = ;
    s.1 e.1 s.1 e.2 = <Set e.1 s.1 e.2>;
    s.1 e.1 = s.1 <Set e.1>;
};

Union {
    (e.1) (e.2) = <Set e.1 e.2>;
};

Diff {
    () (e.1) = ;
    (e.1) () = e.1;
    (s.1 e.1) (e.2 s.1 e.3) = <Diff (e.1) (e.2 e.3)>;
    (s.1 e.1) (e.2) = s.1 <Diff (e.1) (e.2)>;
};
Output:
Serena Jim

REXX

version 1

This REXX version shows the symmetric difference and symmetric   AND   between two lists, the lists have duplicate elements to show their proper handling.

The lists (and output) are formatted as a   set.

The   set   elements may contain any character permitted with a REXX literal, including the literal character itself (expressed as a double literal delimiter), blanks, brackets, commas, and also a   null   value.

/*REXX program finds  symmetric difference  and  symmetric AND  (between two lists).    */
a= '["John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"]' /*note the duplicate element:  Serena  */
b= '["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"]'       /*  "   "       "       "      Jim     */
a.=0;   SD.=0;   SA.=0;    SD=;     SA=          /*falsify booleans; zero & nullify vars*/
a.1=a;         say '──────────────list A ='  a   /*assign a list and display it to term.*/
a.2=b;         say '──────────────list B ='  b   /*   "   "   "   "     "     "  "   "  */
                                                 /* [↓]  parse the two lists.           */
    do k=1  for 2                                /*process both lists  (stemmed array). */
    a.k=strip( strip(a.k, , "["), ,']')          /*strip leading and trailing brackets. */
               do j=1  until a.k=''              /*parse names  [they may have blanks]. */
               a.k=strip(a.k, , ',')             /*strip all commas (if there are any). */
               parse var  a.k   '"'  _  '"'  a.k /*obtain the name of the list.         */
               a.k.j=_                           /*store the name of the list.          */
               a.k._=1                           /*make a boolean value.                */
               end   /*j*/
    a.k.0=j-1                                    /*the number of this list  (of names). */
    end              /*k*/
say                                              /* [↓]  find the symmetric difference. */
    do k=1  for 2;             ko=word(2 1, k)   /*process both lists;   KO=other list. */
      do j=1  for a.k.0;       _=a.k.j           /*process the list names.              */
      if \a.ko._ & \SD._  then do;   SD._=1      /*if not in both, then  ···            */
                               SD=SD  '"'_'",'   /*add to symmetric difference list.    */
                               end
      end   /*j*/
    end     /*k*/
                                                 /* [↓]  SD ≡  symmetric difference.    */
SD= "["strip( strip(SD), 'T', ",")']'            /*clean up and add brackets [ ]  to it.*/
say 'symmetric difference ='   SD                /*display the symmetric difference.    */
                                                 /* [↓]  locate the symmetric AND.      */
   do j=1  for a.1.0;     _=a.1.j                /*process the   A   list names.        */
   if a.1._ & a.2._ & \SA._  then do;   SA._=1   /*if it's common to both, then  ···    */
                                  SA=SA '"'_'",' /*add to symmetric AND  list.          */
                                  end
   end   /*j*/
say                                              /* [↓]  SA ≡  symmetric AND.           */
SA= "["strip( strip(SA), 'T', ",")']'            /*clean up and add brackets [ ]  to it.*/
say '       symmetric AND ='   SA                /*stick a fork in it,  we're all done. */
output   when using the in-program lists:
──────────────list A = ["John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"]
──────────────list B = ["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"]

symmetric difference = ["Serena", "Jim"]

       symmetric AND = ["John", "Bob", "Mary"]

version 1.5

This REXX version shows the symmetric difference and symmetric AND between two lists, the lists have items that have imbedded blanks in them as well as some punctuation, and also a null element.

/*REXX pgm finds symmetric difference and symm. AND (between two lists).*/
a.=0                                              /*falsify the booleans*/
a= '["Zahn", "Yi", "Stands with a Fist", "", "Hungry Wolf", "Yi"]'
b= '["Draag Ng [Jr.]", "Patzy", "Zahn", "Yi", "Robert the Bruce"]'
 
 
 
output   when using the in-program lists (which has imbedded blanks):
──────────────list A = ["Zahn", "Yi", "Stands with a Fist", "", "Hungry Wolf", "Yi"]
──────────────list B = ["Draag Ng [Jr.]", "Patzy", "Zahn", "Yi", "Robert the Bruce"]

symmetric difference = ["Stands with a Fist", "", "Hungry Wolf", "Draag Ng [Jr.]", "Patzy"]

       symmetric AND = ["Zahn", "Yi"]

version 2

/* REXX ---------------------------------------------------------------
* 14.12.2013 Walter Pachl  a short solution
* 16.12.2013 fix duplicate element problem in input
* 16.12.2013 added duplicate to t. 
* Handles only sets the elements of which do not contain blanks
*--------------------------------------------------------------------*/
s='John Bob Mary Serena'
t='Jim Mary John Bob Jim '
Say difference(s,t)
Exit
difference:
Parse Arg a,b
res=''
Do i=1 To words(a)
  If wordpos(word(a,i),b)=0 Then 
    Call out word(a,i)
  End
Do i=1 To words(b)
  If wordpos(word(b,i),a)=0 Then 
    Call out word(b,i)
  End
Return strip(res)
out: parse Arg e
If wordpos(e,res)=0 Then res=res e
Return

Output:

Serena Jim

Ring

alist = []
blist = []
alist = ["john", "bob", "mary", "serena"]
blist = ["jim", "mary", "john", "bob"]

alist2 = []
for i = 1 to len(alist) 
    flag = 0    
    for j = 1 to len(blist)
        if alist[i] = blist[j]  flag = 1 ok
    next
    if (flag = 0) add(alist2, alist[i]) ok
next

blist2 = []
for j = 1 to len(alist) 
    flag = 0    
    for i = 1 to len(blist)
        if alist[i] = blist[j]  flag = 1 ok
    next
    if (flag = 0) add(blist2, blist[j]) ok
next
see "a xor b :" see nl
see alist2
see blist2 see nl
see "a-b :" see nl 
see alist2 see nl 
see "b-a :" see nl
see blist2 see nl

RPL

DIFFL is defined at Set

Works with: Halcyon Calc version 4.2.9
≪ DUP2 DIFFL
   ROT ROT SWAP DIFFL +
≫ ≫ 'SYMDIFF' STO
{"John" "Bob" "Mary" "Serena"} {"Jim" "Mary" "John" "Bob"} SYMDIFF
Output:
1: {"Jim" "Serena"}

Ruby

With arrays:

a = ["John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"]
b = ["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"]
# the union minus the intersection:
p sym_diff = (a | b)-(a & b)  # => ["Serena", "Jim"]

Class Set has a symmetric difference operator built-in:

require 'set'
a = Set["John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"] #Set removes duplicates
b = Set["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"]
p sym_diff = a ^ b # => #<Set: {"Jim", "Serena"}>

Run BASIC

setA$ = "John,Bob,Mary,Serena"
setB$ = "Jim,Mary,John,Bob"

x$ = b$(setA$,setB$)
print word$(x$,1,",")
c$ = c$ + x$

x$ = b$(setB$,setA$)
print word$(x$,1,",")
print c$;x$
end
function b$(a$,b$)
 i = 1
 while word$(a$,i,",") <> ""
  a1$ = word$(a$,i,",")
  j   = instr(b$,a1$)
  if j <> 0 then b$ = left$(b$,j-1) + mid$(b$,j+len(a1$)+1)
  i   = i + 1
wend
end function
Jim
Serena
Jim,Serena


Rust

Both set types in the std-lib -- HashSet and BTreeSet -- implement a symmetric_difference method.

use std::collections::HashSet;

fn main() {
    let a: HashSet<_> = ["John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"]
        .iter()
        .collect();
    let b = ["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob"]
        .iter()
        .collect();

    let diff = a.symmetric_difference(&b);
    println!("{:?}", diff);
}
Output:
["Serena", "Jim"]

Scala

scala> val s1 = Set("John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena")
s1: scala.collection.immutable.Set[java.lang.String] = Set(John, Serena, Bob, Mary)

scala> val s2 = Set("Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob")
s2: scala.collection.immutable.Set[java.lang.String] = Set(Jim, Mary, John, Bob)

scala> (s1 diff s2) union (s2 diff s1)
res46: scala.collection.immutable.Set[java.lang.String] = Set(Serena, Jim)

Scheme

Pure R7RS

In pure Scheme, to illustrate implementation of the algorithms:

(import (scheme base)
        (scheme write))

;; -- given two sets represented as lists, return (A \ B)
(define (a-without-b a b)
  (cond ((null? a) 
         '())
        ((member (car a) (cdr a)) ; drop head of a if it's a duplicate
         (a-without-b (cdr a) b))
        ((member (car a) b) ; head of a is in b so drop it
         (a-without-b (cdr a) b))
        (else ; head of a not in b, so keep it
          (cons (car a) (a-without-b (cdr a) b)))))

;; -- given two sets represented as lists, return symmetric difference
(define (symmetric-difference a b)
  (append (a-without-b a b)
          (a-without-b b a)))

;; -- test case
(define A '(John Bob Mary Serena))
(define B '(Jim Mary John Bob))

(display "A\\B: ") (display (a-without-b A B)) (newline)
(display "B\\A: ") (display (a-without-b B A)) (newline)
(display "Symmetric difference: ") (display (symmetric-difference A B)) (newline)
;; -- extra test as we are using lists
(display "Symmetric difference 2: ") 
(display (symmetric-difference '(John Serena Bob Mary Serena)
                               '(Jim Mary John Jim Bob))) (newline)
Output:
A\B: (Serena)
B\A: (Jim)
Symmetric difference: (Serena Jim)
Symmetric difference 2: (Serena Jim)

Using a standard library

Library: Scheme/SRFIs

SRFI 1 is one of the most popular SRFIs. It deals with lists, but also has functions treating lists as sets. The lset functions assume the inputs are sets, so we must delete duplicates if this property is not guaranteed on input.

(import (scheme base)
        (scheme write)
        (srfi 1))

(define (a-without-b a b)
  (lset-difference equal? 
                   (delete-duplicates a)
                   (delete-duplicates b)))

(define (symmetric-difference a b)
  (lset-xor equal? 
            (delete-duplicates a)
            (delete-duplicates b)))

;; -- test case
(define A '(John Bob Mary Serena))
(define B '(Jim Mary John Bob))

(display "A\\B: ") (display (a-without-b A B)) (newline)
(display "B\\A: ") (display (a-without-b B A)) (newline)
(display "Symmetric difference: ") (display (symmetric-difference A B)) (newline)
;; -- extra test as we are using lists
(display "Symmetric difference 2: ") 
(display (symmetric-difference '(John Serena Bob Mary Serena)
                               '(Jim Mary John Jim Bob))) (newline)

Seed7

$ include "seed7_05.s7i";

const type: striSet is set of string;

enable_output(striSet);

const proc: main is func
  local
    const striSet: setA is {"John", "Bob" , "Mary", "Serena"};
    const striSet: setB is {"Jim" , "Mary", "John", "Bob"   };
  begin
    writeln(setA >< setB);
  end func;

Output:

{Jim, Serena}

SETL

program symmetric_difference;
    A := {"John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"};
    B := {"Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob"};

    print("A - B:", A - B);
    print("B - A:", B - A);
    print("Symmetric difference:", (A-B) + (B-A));
end program;
Output:
A - B: {Serena}
B - A: {Jim}
Symmetric difference: {Jim Serena}

Sidef

var a = ["John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"];
var b = ["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob"];
a ^ b -> unique.dump.say;
Output:
["Serena", "Jim"]

Smalltalk

|A B|
A := Set new.
B := Set new.
A addAll: #( 'John' 'Bob' 'Mary' 'Serena' ).
B addAll: #( 'Jim' 'Mary' 'John' 'Bob' ).

( (A - B) + (B - A) ) displayNl.

Output is

Set ('Jim' 'Serena' )

SQL/PostgreSQL

create or replace function arrxor(anyarray,anyarray) returns anyarray as $$
select ARRAY(
        (
        select r.elements
        from    (
                (select 1,unnest($1))
                union all
                (select 2,unnest($2))
                ) as r (arr, elements)
        group by 1
        having min(arr) = max(arr)
        )
)
$$ language sql strict immutable;

Usage:

select arrxor('{this,is,a,test}'::text[],'{also,part,of,a,test}'::text[]);

Output:

          arrxor           
------------------------
 also,is,of,part,this

Swift

Swift's Set type supports difference as well as symmetric difference operators.

Works with: Swift version 1.2+
let setA : Set<String> = ["John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"]
let setB : Set<String> = ["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob"]
println(setA.exclusiveOr(setB)) // symmetric difference of A and B
println(setA.subtract(setB)) // elements in A that are not in B
Output:
["Jim", "Serena"]
["Serena"]

Tcl

It's common to represent sets as an unordered list of elements. (It is also the most efficient representation.) The struct::set package contains operations for working on such sets-as-lists.

Library: Tcllib (Package: struct::set)
package require struct::set

set A {John Bob Mary Serena}
set B {Jim Mary John Bob}

set AnotB   [struct::set difference $A $B]
set BnotA   [struct::set difference $B $A]
set SymDiff [struct::set union $AnotB $BnotA]

puts "A\\B = $AnotB"
puts "B\\A = $BnotA"
puts "A\u2296B = $SymDiff"

# Of course, the library already has this operation directly...
puts "Direct Check: [struct::set symdiff $A $B]"
Produces this output:
A\B = Serena
B\A = Jim
A⊖B = Jim Serena
Direct Check: Jim Serena

TUSCRIPT

$$ MODE TUSCRIPT
a="John'Bob'Mary'Serena"
b="Jim'Mary'John'Bob"

DICT names CREATE

SUBMACRO checknames
!var,val
PRINT val,": ",var
 LOOP n=var
  DICT names APPEND/QUIET n,num,cnt,val;" "
 ENDLOOP
ENDSUBMACRO

CALL checknames (a,"a")
CALL checknames (b,"b")

DICT names UNLOAD names,num,cnt,val

LOOP n=names,v=val
PRINT n," in: ",v
ENDLOOP

Output:

a: John'Bob'Mary'Serena
b: Jim'Mary'John'Bob
John in: a b
Bob in: a b
Mary in: a b
Serena in: a
Jim in: b 

UNIX Shell

Works with: Bash
uniq() {
  u=("$@")
  for ((i=0;i<${#u[@]};i++)); do
    for ((j=i+1;j<=${#u[@]};j++)); do
      [ "${u[$i]}" = "${u[$j]}" ] && unset u[$i]
    done
  done
  u=("${u[@]}")
}

a=(John Serena Bob Mary Serena)
b=(Jim Mary John Jim Bob)

uniq "${a[@]}"
au=("${u[@]}")
uniq "${b[@]}"
bu=("${u[@]}")

ab=("${au[@]}")
for ((i=0;i<=${#au[@]};i++)); do
  for ((j=0;j<=${#bu[@]};j++)); do
    [ "${ab[$i]}" = "${bu[$j]}" ] && unset ab[$i]
  done
done
ab=("${ab[@]}")

ba=("${bu[@]}")
for ((i=0;i<=${#bu[@]};i++)); do
  for ((j=0;j<=${#au[@]};j++)); do
    [ "${ba[$i]}" = "${au[$j]}" ] && unset ba[$i]
  done
done
ba=("${ba[@]}")

sd=("${ab[@]}" "${ba[@]}")

echo "Set A = ${a[@]}"
echo "      = ${au[@]}"
echo "Set B = ${b[@]}"
echo "      = ${bu[@]}"
echo "A - B = ${ab[@]}"
echo "B - A = ${ba[@]}"
echo "Symmetric difference = ${sd[@]}"

Output:

Set A = John Serena Bob Mary Serena
      = John Bob Mary Serena
Set B = Jim Mary John Jim Bob
      = Mary John Jim Bob
A - B = Serena
B - A = Jim
Symmetric difference = Serena Jim

Ursala

a = <'John','Bob','Mary','Serena'>
b = <'Jim','Mary','John','Bob'>

#cast %sLm

main =

<
   'a': a,
   'b': b,
   'a not b': ~&j/a b,
   'b not a': ~&j/b a,
   'symmetric difference': ~&jrljTs/a b>

output:

<
   'a': <'John','Bob','Mary','Serena'>,
   'b': <'Jim','Mary','John','Bob'>,
   'a not b': <'Serena'>,
   'b not a': <'Jim'>,
   'symmetric difference': <'Jim','Serena'>>

V (Vlang)

const
( 
	alist = ["john", "bob", "mary", "serena"]
	blist = ["jim", "mary", "john", "bob"]
)

fn main() {
	mut rlist := []string{}
	for elem in alist {
		if blist.any(it == elem) == false {
			println("a - b = $elem")
			rlist << elem
		}
	}
	for elem in blist {
		if alist.any(it == elem) == false {
			println("b - a = $elem")
			rlist << elem
		}
	}
	println("symmetric difference: $rlist")
}
Output:
a - b = serena
b - a = jim
symmetric difference: ['serena', 'jim']

Wren

Library: Wren-set
import "./set" for Set

var symmetricDifference = Fn.new { |a, b| a.except(b).union(b.except(a)) }

var a = Set.new(["John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena"])
var b = Set.new(["Jim", "Mary", "John", "Bob"])
System.print("A     = %(a)")
System.print("B     = %(b)")
System.print("A - B = %(a.except(b))")
System.print("B - A = %(b.except(a))")
System.print("A △ B = %(symmetricDifference.call(a, b))")
Output:
A     = <Serena, Bob, Mary, John>
B     = <Jim, Bob, Mary, John>
A - B = <Serena>
B - A = <Jim>
A △ B = <Serena, Jim>

XPL0

An integer in XPL0 can represent a set of up to 32 elements, and bitwise Boolean operations can represent union, intersection, and difference.

def  John, Bob, Mary, Serena, Jim;   \enumerate set items (0..4)

proc SetOut(S);         \Output the elements in set
int  S;
int  Name, I;
[Name:= ["John", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena", "Jim"];
for I:= 0 to 31 do
    if S & 1<<I then
        [Text(0, Name(I));  ChOut(0, ^ )];
CrLf(0);
];

int A, B;
[A:= 1<<John ! 1<<Bob ! 1<<Mary ! 1<<Serena;
 B:= 1<<Jim ! 1<<Mary ! 1<<John ! 1<<Bob;
Text(0, "A xor B =   ");  SetOut(A | B);
Text(0, "A\B =       ");  SetOut(A & ~B);
Text(0, "B\A =       ");  SetOut(B & ~A);
Text(0, "A\B U B\A = ");  SetOut(A&~B ! B&~A);
]
Output:
A xor B =   Serena Jim 
A\B =       Serena 
B\A =       Jim 
A\B U B\A = Serena Jim 

Yabasic

lista1$ = "John Serena Bob Mary Serena"
lista2$ = "Jim Mary John Jim Bob"

lista1$ = quitadup$(lista1$)
lista2$ = quitadup$(lista2$)
res$ = quitacomun$(lista1$, lista2$)
res$ = res$ + quitacomun$(lista2$, lista1$)
print res$


sub quitadup$(l$)
	l$ = l$ + " "
	return quitarep$(l$)
end sub


sub quitacomun$(l1$, l2$)
	l1$ = l1$ + " "
	l2$ = l2$ + " "
	return quitarep$(l1$, l2$)
end sub


sub quitarep$(l1$, l2$)
	local pos, n, x, listar$, nombre$, largo
	
	largo = len(l1$)
	pos = 1
	while(true)
		n = instr(l1$, " ", pos)
		if n > 0 then
			nombre$ = mid$(l1$, pos, n-pos)
			if numparams = 1 then
				x = instr(listar$, nombre$)
			else
				x = instr(l2$, nombre$)
			end if
			if x = 0 listar$ = listar$ + nombre$ + " "
			pos = n + 1
		else
			return listar$
		end if
	wend
end sub

zkl

fcn setCommon(list1,list2){ list1.filter(list2.holds); }
fcn sdiff(list1,list2)
   { list1.extend(list2).copy().removeEach(setCommon(list1,list2)) }
a:=T("John","Bob","Mary","Serena");
b:=T("Jim","Mary","John","Bob");
sdiff(a,b).println();

To deal with duplicates, use Remove duplicate elements#zkl:

a:=T("John", "Serena", "Bob", "Mary", "Serena");
b:=T("Jim", "Mary", "John", "Jim", "Bob");
sdiff(a,b) : Utils.Helpers.listUnique(_).println();
Output:
L("Serena","Jim")
L("Serena","Jim")