如果顺序无关紧要，你可以简单地计算集合差值:

>>> set([1,2,3,4]) - set([2,5])
set([1, 4, 3])
>>> set([2,5]) - set([1,2,3,4])
set([5])

如果你不关心项目的顺序或重复，请使用set。使用列表推导式:

>>> def diff(first, second):
        second = set(second)
        return [item for item in first if item not in second]

>>> diff(A, B)
[1, 3, 4]
>>> diff(B, A)
[5]
>>> 

一个衬套:

diff = lambda l1,l2: [x for x in l1 if x not in l2]
diff(A,B)
diff(B,A)

Or:

diff = lambda l1,l2: filter(lambda x: x not in l2, l1)
diff(A,B)
diff(B,A)

如果你想要递归地深入到列表中的项目，我已经为python编写了一个包:https://github.com/erasmose/deepdiff

安装

从PyPi安装:

pip install deepdiff

如果你是Python3，你还需要安装:

pip install future six

示例使用

>>> from deepdiff import DeepDiff
>>> from pprint import pprint
>>> from __future__ import print_function

同一对象返回空

>>> t1 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3}
>>> t2 = t1
>>> ddiff = DeepDiff(t1, t2)
>>> print (ddiff.changes)
    {}

项目类型发生变化

>>> t1 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3}
>>> t2 = {1:1, 2:"2", 3:3}
>>> ddiff = DeepDiff(t1, t2)
>>> print (ddiff.changes)
    {'type_changes': ["root[2]: 2=<type 'int'> vs. 2=<type 'str'>"]}

某项的值已更改

>>> t1 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3}
>>> t2 = {1:1, 2:4, 3:3}
>>> ddiff = DeepDiff(t1, t2)
>>> print (ddiff.changes)
    {'values_changed': ['root[2]: 2 ====>> 4']}

项目添加和/或删除

>>> t1 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:4}
>>> t2 = {1:1, 2:4, 3:3, 5:5, 6:6}
>>> ddiff = DeepDiff(t1, t2)
>>> pprint (ddiff.changes)
    {'dic_item_added': ['root[5, 6]'],
     'dic_item_removed': ['root[4]'],
     'values_changed': ['root[2]: 2 ====>> 4']}

字符串的区别

>>> t1 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":"world"}}
>>> t2 = {1:1, 2:4, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":"world!"}}
>>> ddiff = DeepDiff(t1, t2)
>>> pprint (ddiff.changes, indent = 2)
    { 'values_changed': [ 'root[2]: 2 ====>> 4',
                          "root[4]['b']:\n--- \n+++ \n@@ -1 +1 @@\n-world\n+world!"]}
>>>
>>> print (ddiff.changes['values_changed'][1])
    root[4]['b']:
    --- 
    +++ 
    @@ -1 +1 @@
    -world
    +world!

字符串差2

>>> t1 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":"world!\nGoodbye!\n1\n2\nEnd"}}
>>> t2 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":"world\n1\n2\nEnd"}}
>>> ddiff = DeepDiff(t1, t2)
>>> pprint (ddiff.changes, indent = 2)
    { 'values_changed': [ "root[4]['b']:\n--- \n+++ \n@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@\n-world!\n-Goodbye!\n+world\n 1\n 2\n End"]}
>>>
>>> print (ddiff.changes['values_changed'][0])
    root[4]['b']:
    --- 
    +++ 
    @@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
    -world!
    -Goodbye!
    +world
     1
     2
     End

类型变化

>>> t1 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":[1, 2, 3]}}
>>> t2 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":"world\n\n\nEnd"}}
>>> ddiff = DeepDiff(t1, t2)
>>> pprint (ddiff.changes, indent = 2)
    { 'type_changes': [ "root[4]['b']: [1, 2, 3]=<type 'list'> vs. world\n\n\nEnd=<type 'str'>"]}

列表的区别

>>> t1 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":[1, 2, 3]}}
>>> t2 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":[1, 2]}}
>>> ddiff = DeepDiff(t1, t2)
>>> pprint (ddiff.changes, indent = 2)
    { 'list_removed': ["root[4]['b']: [3]"]}

区别2:注意它不考虑顺序

>>> # Note that it DOES NOT take order into account
... t1 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":[1, 2, 3]}}
>>> t2 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":[1, 3, 2]}}
>>> ddiff = DeepDiff(t1, t2)
>>> pprint (ddiff.changes, indent = 2)
    { }

包含字典的列表:

>>> t1 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":[1, 2, {1:1, 2:2}]}}
>>> t2 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":[1, 2, {1:3}]}}
>>> ddiff = DeepDiff(t1, t2)
>>> pprint (ddiff.changes, indent = 2)
    { 'dic_item_removed': ["root[4]['b'][2][2]"],
      'values_changed': ["root[4]['b'][2][1]: 1 ====>> 3"]}

上面的例子使计算差异的问题变得微不足道。假设排序或重复数据删除确实使计算差异变得更容易，但如果您的比较无法承担这些假设，那么您将需要一个diff算法的重要实现。请参阅python标准库中的difflib。

#! /usr/bin/python2
from difflib import SequenceMatcher

A = [1,2,3,4]
B = [2,5]

squeeze=SequenceMatcher( None, A, B )

print "A - B = [%s]"%( reduce( lambda p,q: p+q,
                               map( lambda t: squeeze.a[t[1]:t[2]],
                                    filter(lambda x:x[0]!='equal',
                                           squeeze.get_opcodes() ) ) ) )

或Python3…

#! /usr/bin/python3
from difflib import SequenceMatcher
from functools import reduce

A = [1,2,3,4]
B = [2,5]

squeeze=SequenceMatcher( None, A, B )

print( "A - B = [%s]"%( reduce( lambda p,q: p+q,
                               map( lambda t: squeeze.a[t[1]:t[2]],
                                    filter(lambda x:x[0]!='equal',
                                           squeeze.get_opcodes() ) ) ) ) )

输出:

A - B = [[1, 3, 4]]

你可以做一个

list(set(A)-set(B))

and

list(set(B)-set(A))