Search for any word in a Linq query

Question

I'm passing a string to a controller, and need the controller to search for ANY of the words passed, within the Title field of my database.

eg. id="outlook error message"

 [HttpPost]
    public JsonResult Lookup(string id)
    {
        List<string> listOfSearch = id.Split(' ').ToList();
        var results = db.KS.Where(x => x.Title.Intersect(listOfSearch).Any());

This produces the following two errors:

Instance argument: cannot convert from 'string' to 'System.Linq.IQueryable<string>

'string' does not contain a definition for 'Intersect' and the best extension method overload 'System.Linq.Queryable.Intersect<TSource>(System.Linq.IQueryable<TSource>, System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<TSource>)' has some invalid arguments

Can anyone please advise what's wrong, or how to populate results with just a list of Titles that contain any of the words passed in?

Thanks, Mark

I had a similar question not long ago: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16215100/linq-to-entities-orderby-statement-involving-extension-method (it has an answer to the problem you're having) — HennyH, Apr 30 '13 at 10:58

Vladimir · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-30T12:00:43.547

2

var results = db.KS.Where(x => listOfSearch.Any(item => x.Title.Contains(item)));

Update:
For LinqToSql:

var titles = db.KS.Select(item => item.Title)
    .AsEnumerable()
    .Where(title => listOfSearch.Any(word => title.Contains(word)));

edited Apr 30 '13 at 12:00

answered Apr 30 '13 at 11:53

Vladimir

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Hi - this looks like it would work - but if I pass in "outlook err..." it will only return items where it has "outlook err.." specifically, not "outlook" or "error" - do you know how to achieve that please? Thank you, Mark – Mark Apr 30 '13 at 13:53
Sorry my mistake - it does work - it's the Twitter TypeAhead which is only hilighting entries where all text appears. That's another question though :) Thank you, Mark – Mark Apr 30 '13 at 14:09

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 30 '13 at 13:20

you can try

 List<string> listOfSearch = id.Split(' ').ToList();
 var result = from item in db.KS
              where listOfSearch.Any(v => item.Title.Contains(v)) 
              select item;

or

var result = db.KS.Where(item => listOfSearch.Any(v => item.Title.Contains(v)));

Biswanath · Answer 3 · 2013-04-30T11:44:20.183

1

Change the statement to:

db.KS.Intersect(....

KS returns you the IQueryable on which you can directly perform the intersection.

edited Apr 30 '13 at 11:44

answered Apr 30 '13 at 11:04

Biswanath

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This does not provide an answer to the question. To critique or request clarification from an author, leave a comment below their post. – Roger Rowland Apr 30 '13 at 11:23
@RogerRowland , Changed from rhetorical question to simple answer. – Biswanath Apr 30 '13 at 11:27
could you please give your answer a bit more substance so make it a more valueable contribution? – K_B Apr 30 '13 at 11:31

Search for any word in a Linq query

3 Answers3