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)

Python 2.7.3(默认，2014年2月27日，19:58:35)- IPython 1.1.0 - timeit:(github gist)

def diff(a, b):
  b = set(b)
  return [aa for aa in a if aa not in b]

def set_diff(a, b):
  return list(set(a) - set(b))

diff_lamb_hension = lambda l1,l2: [x for x in l1 if x not in l2]

diff_lamb_filter = lambda l1,l2: filter(lambda x: x not in l2, l1)

from difflib import SequenceMatcher
def squeezer(a, b):
  squeeze = SequenceMatcher(None, a, b)
  return reduce(lambda p,q: p+q, map(
    lambda t: squeeze.a[t[1]:t[2]],
      filter(lambda x:x[0]!='equal',
        squeeze.get_opcodes())))

结果:

# Small
a = range(10)
b = range(10/2)

timeit[diff(a, b)]
100000 loops, best of 3: 1.97 µs per loop

timeit[set_diff(a, b)]
100000 loops, best of 3: 2.71 µs per loop

timeit[diff_lamb_hension(a, b)]
100000 loops, best of 3: 2.1 µs per loop

timeit[diff_lamb_filter(a, b)]
100000 loops, best of 3: 3.58 µs per loop

timeit[squeezer(a, b)]
10000 loops, best of 3: 36 µs per loop

# Medium
a = range(10**4)
b = range(10**4/2)

timeit[diff(a, b)]
1000 loops, best of 3: 1.17 ms per loop

timeit[set_diff(a, b)]
1000 loops, best of 3: 1.27 ms per loop

timeit[diff_lamb_hension(a, b)]
1 loops, best of 3: 736 ms per loop

timeit[diff_lamb_filter(a, b)]
1 loops, best of 3: 732 ms per loop

timeit[squeezer(a, b)]
100 loops, best of 3: 12.8 ms per loop

# Big
a = xrange(10**7)
b = xrange(10**7/2)

timeit[diff(a, b)]
1 loops, best of 3: 1.74 s per loop

timeit[set_diff(a, b)]
1 loops, best of 3: 2.57 s per loop

timeit[diff_lamb_filter(a, b)]
# too long to wait for

timeit[diff_lamb_filter(a, b)]
# too long to wait for

timeit[diff_lamb_filter(a, b)]
# TypeError: sequence index must be integer, not 'slice'

@roman-bodnarchuk列表推导函数def diff(a, b)似乎更快。

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]
>>> 

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"]}

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

#A - B
x = list(set(A) - set(B))
#B - A 
y = list(set(B) - set(A))

print x
print y 

添加一个答案来处理我们想要严格区别重复的情况，也就是说，在第一个列表中有我们想要保留在结果中的重复。例如，得到，

[1, 1, 1, 2] - [1, 1] --> [1, 2]

我们可以用一个额外的计数器来得到一个优雅的差分函数。

from collections import Counter

def diff(first, second):
    secondCntr = Counter(second)
    second = set(second)
    res = []
    for i in first:
        if i not in second:
            res.append(i)
        elif i in secondCntr:
            if secondCntr[i] > 0:
                secondCntr[i] -= 1
            else:
                res.append(i)        
    return res