Check if a string contains particular characters in any order

Question

The best way that I can explain what I'm trying to do is by giving an example:

I have a string StackOverflow in my database and when a user types OAW I would like to return that string and any other word that contains those three characters in any order.

I've tried playing with various LINQ/Lambda expressions but to no avail.

query.Where(a => a.SerialNumber.Contains(a));

I found a post here on SO that looks similar to mine but it's in Java.

I feel what I'm trying to do is extremely simple to implement but I'm just missing it. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Christos · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-23T19:21:13.677

6

You could try something like this:

query.Where(str => value.All(str.SerialNumber.Contains));

Here for any word in your database, you check if all the characters of the value, OAW, -Using the All extension method- are contained in the str.SerialNumber.

Update

This

str.SerialNumber.Contains

is equivalent to this lambda expression:

x => str.SerialNumber.Contains(x)

The x refers to the random element of the sequence in which we apply the All. In other words to the random character of value.

edited Apr 23 '15 at 19:21

answered Apr 22 '15 at 21:49

Christos

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So wasteful to call `ToCharArray`. A string is already `IEnumerable`, so you can do LINQ on it right away. This then turns into Nathan's solution. – Jeppe Stig Nielsen Apr 22 '15 at 22:23
@JeppeStigNielsen you are completely correct. Thanks for you comment ! – Christos Apr 22 '15 at 23:07
@Christos Where are you getting 'a' from so you can do a.All() ? – HiTech Apr 23 '15 at 18:07
@Christos I was able to get your previous answer working. But i can't seem to figure out how to implement your edited answer. If you can maybe explain how to use your new answer a bit better i will accept this as my answer. – HiTech Apr 23 '15 at 19:08
@HiTech Hi, I had to correct my answer. Let me explain you what is going on. – Christos Apr 23 '15 at 19:14

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:47

1

You can use a ContainsAll type of function.

public static bool ContainsAllItems(IEnumerable<T> a, IEnumerable<T> b)
{
    return !b.Except(a).Any();
}

NOTE

The function was borrowed from here

edited May 23 '17 at 11:47

Community

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answered Apr 22 '15 at 21:49

Dan Drews

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Use `IEnumerable<>`, not `List<>`. A string is an `IEnumerable` but not a `List<>`. – Jeppe Stig Nielsen Apr 22 '15 at 22:00
I'm not sure how to use this method. Still a bit new =/ – HiTech Apr 22 '15 at 22:10
So you could write `query.Where(a => !searchLetterStr.Except(a.SerialNumber).Any())`, right? Just to inline and get rid of the method. – Jeppe Stig Nielsen Apr 22 '15 at 22:11
1

"The function was borrowed from here" - Did you return it yet? – Quantic Jun 07 '18 at 20:41

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:30

1

You can do that by just modifying your code a little bit:

public bool DoesContain(char[] identifiers, string containingString)
{
    return !identifiers.Except(containingString.ToCharArray()).Any();
}

or:

private char[] identifiers = { /* Your identifiers*/ };

public bool DoesContain(string containingString)
{
    return !identifiers.Except(containingString.ToCharArray()).Any();
}

Either of these methods will return true if the string passed contains any of the specified characters.

Note:

Solution from Cameron MacFarland on this question.

edited May 23 '17 at 10:30

Community

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answered Apr 22 '15 at 21:54

CalebB

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I just tried this. It returns true to any string that contains one of the characters in the char array. – HiTech Apr 22 '15 at 21:59
Did you want it to see if the string contained all characters? – CalebB Apr 22 '15 at 22:00
Yes. I would like it to return true if the "containingString" has at the minimum all the "identifies". I'll edit my post to make that more clear. – HiTech Apr 22 '15 at 22:03
Updated answer to accompany that. My mistake. – CalebB Apr 22 '15 at 22:07

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 22 '15 at 21:53

0

Looks like you can make multiple comparisons and && them, or use regular expressions. I prefer the former, here's a terse example:

arrOfCharacters.All(a.SerialNumber.Contains)

although you may need to litter your code with ToUpperInvariant()

answered Apr 22 '15 at 21:53

Nathan Cooper

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Check if a string contains particular characters in any order

4 Answers4