Collection Comparison

BetterCollectionTest.cs

        private void AssertStructure(string[] actualCollection, string[] expectedCollection)
        {
            var actual = string.Join(",", actualCollection);
            var expected = string.Join(",", expectedCollection.Select(s => s == "..." ? ".*" : s)).Replace(",.*", ".*").Replace(".*,", ".*");
            Assert.That(actual, Is.StringMatching(expected));
        }

CollectionTests.cs

using NUnit.Framework;
using Should;

namespace Tests
{
    [TestFixture]
    public class CollectionTester
    {
        [Test]
        public void AllMatch()
        {
            var expected = new[] { "1", "2", "3" };
            var actual = new[] { "1", "2", "3" };
            AssertStructure(actual, expected);
        }

        [Test, ExpectedException]
        public void ActualIsMissingOne()
        {
            var expected = new[] { "1", "2", "3" };
            var actual = new[] { "1", "3" };
            AssertStructure(actual, expected);
        }

        [Test, ExpectedException]
        public void ActualIsMissingOneAndExpectedHasEllipsis()
        {
            var expected = new[] { "1", "2", "3", "..." };
            var actual = new[] { "1", "3" };
            AssertStructure(actual, expected);
        }

        [Test, ExpectedException]
        public void ActualHasTooMany()
        {
            var expected = new[] { "1", "2", "3" };
            var actual = new[] { "1", "2", "4", "3" };
            AssertStructure(actual, expected);
        }

        [Test, ExpectedException]
        public void ActualHasWrongItem()
        {
            var expected = new[] { "1", "2", "3" };
            var actual = new[] { "1", "4", "3" };
            AssertStructure(actual, expected);
        }

        [Test]
        public void ActualMatchesWithEllipsisReplacingOneItem()
        {
            var expected = new[] { "1", "2", "...", "3" };
            var actual = new[] { "1", "2", "4", "3" };
            AssertStructure(actual, expected);
        }

        [Test]
        public void ActualMatchesWithEllipsisReplacingTwoItems()
        {
            var expected = new[] { "1", "2", "...", "3" };
            var actual = new[] { "1", "2", "4", "5", "3" };
            AssertStructure(actual, expected);
        }

        [Test]
        public void ExpectedHasUnneededEllipsis()
        {
            var expected = new[] { "1", "2", "...", "3" };
            var actual = new[] { "1", "2", "3" };
            AssertStructure(actual, expected);
        }

        [Test]
        public void ExpectedEndsWithEllipsis()
        {
            var expected = new[] { "1", "2", "3", "..." };
            var actual = new[] { "1", "2", "3", "4" };
            AssertStructure(actual, expected);
        }


        [Test]
        public void ExpectedHasTrailingEllipsis()
        {
            var expected = new[] { "1", "2", "3", "..." };
            var actual = new[] { "1", "2", "3" };
            AssertStructure(actual, expected);
        }

        [Test, ExpectedException]
        public void ExpectedHasItemsAfterEllipsis()
        {
            var expected = new[] { "1", "2", "3", "...", "5" };
            var actual = new[] { "1", "2", "3", "4" };
            AssertStructure(actual, expected);
        }

        [Test, ExpectedException]
        public void ExpectedHasItemsAfterEllipsisAndAnotherEllipsis()
        {
            var expected = new[] { "1", "2", "3", "...", "5", "..." };
            var actual = new[] { "1", "2", "3", "4" };
            AssertStructure(actual, expected);
        }

        [Test]
        public void ExpectedHasItemsAfterEllipsisAndAnotherEllipsisAndSomeMatches()
        {
            var expected = new[] { "1", "2", "3", "...", "5", "..." };
            var actual = new[] { "1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6" };
            AssertStructure(actual, expected);
        }

        private void AssertStructure(string[] actualCollection, string[] expectedCollection)
        {
            int exp = 0;
            int act = 0;
            const string ellipsis = "...";
            while (act < actualCollection.Length && !(expectedCollection[exp] == ellipsis && exp == expectedCollection.Length - 1))
            {
                if (expectedCollection[exp] != ellipsis)
                {
                    Assert.That(actualCollection[act], Is.EqualTo(expectedCollection[exp]));
                }
                if (expectedCollection[exp] == ellipsis && actualCollection[act] == expectedCollection[exp + 1])
                {
                    exp++;
                    continue;
                }
                if (expectedCollection[exp] == ellipsis && actualCollection[act] != expectedCollection[exp + 1])
                {
                    act++;
                    Assert.That(act, Is.LessThan(actualCollection.Length), "Reached end of actuals without finding all expected.");
                    continue;
                }
                exp++;
                act++;
            }
        }
    }
}

Cool, thank you, @handcraftsman. My penultimate revision passes your test. It comes down to whether you replace ",." or ".," when cleaning up the list. I had some reason for flipping that, and now I'm irritated with myself for not making a better note of why I had to flip it, since reverting it back still passes all my scenarios, including my real ones.

Oh, markdown converted my asterisks. Should be: whether you replace comma dot star or dot star comma.

In that case, this test breaks it.

[Test]
public void ExpectedHasTrailingEllipsis()
{
    var expected = new[] { "1", "2", "3", "..." };
    var actual = new[] { "1", "2", "3" };
    AssertStructure(actual, expected);
}

New revision, incorporating @handcraftsman's fixes: new test, and both replacements are needed. 130b29