Merge Two Lists Without Duplicates - Python

We are given two lists containing elements and our task is to merge them into a single list while ensuring there are no duplicate values. For example: a = [1, 2, 3, 4] and b = [3, 4, 5, 6] then the merged list should be: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Using set()

set() function automatically removes duplicates making it the most efficient way to merge two lists while keeping only unique elements.

a = [1, 2, 3, 4]  
b = [3, 4, 5, 6]  

res = list(set(a + b))  

print(res)  

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Explanation:

• a + b merges both lists and set(a + b) removes duplicates.
• list(set(...)) converts the set back into a list.

Using Dictionary Keys (dict.fromkeys())

Since dictionary keys are unique, we can use dict.fromkeys() to remove duplicates while preserving the order of elements.

a = [1, 2, 3, 4]  
b = [3, 4, 5, 6]  

res = list(dict.fromkeys(a + b))  

print(res)  

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Explanation:

• a + b merges both lists and dict.fromkeys(a + b) creates a dictionary where keys are the merged elements (removing duplicates).
• list(...) converts the dictionary keys back into a list preserving order.

Using a for Loop

We can manually iterate through both lists and add elements to a new list only if they are not already present.

a = [1, 2, 3, 4]  
b = [3, 4, 5, 6]  

res = []  
for x in a + b:  
    if x not in res:  
        res.append(x)  

print(res)  

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Explanation:

• We initialize an empty list result and iterate through a + b, check if x is already in result.
• If x is not in result then only we append it.

Using List Comprehension with set

This method combines a set for fast lookups with a list comprehension to preserve order efficiently.

a = [1, 2, 3, 4]  
b = [3, 4, 5, 6]  

seen = set()  
res = [x for x in a + b if x not in seen and not seen.add(x)]  

print(res)  

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Explanation:

• We initialize an empty set() called seen to track unique elements.
• We iterate through a + b using list comprehension and if x is not in seen then it is added to result, seen.add(x) adds x to seen ensuring duplicates are ignored.