# How to find intersection of multiple lists excluding empty ones?

I have lists like

list1={1, 1, 2, 3}; list2={3, 1, 4}; list3={};


I want to find the intersection of all list. I tried the following way, but it's not working.

Intersection[Cases[{list1, list2,list3}, Except[{}]]]


I want output like this

{1, 3}


Fell free, if you want to edit my question.

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If list3=={}, the intersection will be {} .... –  belisarius Apr 11 '13 at 13:27
Try Intersection @@ Cases[...] @belisarius I think subbu wants to exclude empty sets from the list of intersected sets. –  István Zachar Apr 11 '13 at 13:27
also: Intersection @@ DeleteCases[{list1, list2, list3}, {}] –  Yves Klett Apr 11 '13 at 13:30
@IstvánZachar you are right,what you understood –  subbu Apr 11 '13 at 13:30
@subbu Cases, like many functions, returns a single list. But Intersection wants a set of lists to compare. So your code wasn't 'reaching far enough' into the results of Cases to give you the answer you want. If you haven't seen it already, Leonid's book is worth reading. –  cormullion Apr 12 '13 at 15:39

Here's a different way:

list1 = {1, 1, 2, 3}; list2 = {3, 1, 4}; list3 = {};
Intersection @@ DeleteCases[{list1, list2, list3}, {}]


Which gives:

{1,3}

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Try like this,

list1 = {1, 1, 2, 3}; list2 = {3, 1, 4}; list3 = {};
Intersection[Sequence @@ Cases[{list1, list2, list3}, Except[{}]]]

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If you want the elements existing in more than one list you could try:

list1 = {1, 1, 2, 3};

list2 = {3, 1, 4};

list3 = {4};
Union @@ Intersection @@@ Subsets[{list1, list2, list3}, {2}]

(* {1, 3, 4} *)


edit With an empty list3

list1 = {1, 1, 2, 3};
list2 = {3, 1, 4};
list3 = {};
Union @@ Intersection @@@ Subsets[{list1, list2, list3}, {2}]
(* {1,3} *)

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sorry,my list3 is empty like {} –  subbu Apr 11 '13 at 13:32
@subbu Try it with list3 = {} then –  belisarius Apr 11 '13 at 13:32
If I assign list3={},I will get output is like {}.But I want output like {1,3}.indirectly I want to exclude empty sets from the list of intersects sets. –  subbu Apr 11 '13 at 13:37
@subbu See edit –  belisarius Apr 11 '13 at 13:39