How do I use LINQ Contains(string[]) instead of Contains(string)

I got one big question.

I got a linq query to put it simply looks like this:

from xx in table
where xx.uid.ToString().Contains(string[])
select xx

The values of the string[] array would be numbers like (1,45,20,10,etc...)

the Default for .Contains is .Contains(string).

I need it to do this instead: .Contains(string[])...

EDIT : One user suggested writing an extension class for string[]. I would like to learn how, but any one willing to point me in the right direction?

EDIT : The uid would also be a number. That's why it is converted to a string.

Help anyone?

Solution 1:

spoulson has it nearly right, but you need to create a List<string> from string[] first. Actually a List<int> would be better if uid is also int. List<T> supports Contains(). Doing uid.ToString().Contains(string[]) would imply that the uid as a string contains all of the values of the array as a substring??? Even if you did write the extension method the sense of it would be wrong.

[EDIT]

Unless you changed it around and wrote it for string[] as Mitch Wheat demonstrates, then you'd just be able to skip the conversion step.

[ENDEDIT]

Here is what you want, if you don't do the extension method (unless you already have the collection of potential uids as ints -- then just use List<int>() instead). This uses the chained method syntax, which I think is cleaner, and does the conversion to int to ensure that the query can be used with more providers.

var uids = arrayofuids.Select(id => int.Parse(id)).ToList();

var selected = table.Where(t => uids.Contains(t.uid));

Solution 2:

If you are truly looking to replicate Contains, but for an array, here is an extension method and sample code for usage:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace ContainsAnyThingy
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string testValue = "123345789";

            //will print true
            Console.WriteLine(testValue.ContainsAny("123", "987", "554")); 

            //but so will this also print true
            Console.WriteLine(testValue.ContainsAny("1", "987", "554"));
            Console.ReadKey();

        }
    }

    public static class StringExtensions
    {
        public static bool ContainsAny(this string str, params string[] values)
        {
            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(str) || values.Length > 0)
            {
                foreach (string value in values)
                {
                    if(str.Contains(value))
                        return true;
                }
            }

            return false;
        }
    }
}

Solution 3:

Try the following.

string input = "someString";
string[] toSearchFor = GetSearchStrings();
var containsAll = toSearchFor.All(x => input.Contains(x));

Solution 4:

LINQ in .NET 4.0 has another option for you; the .Any() method;

string[] values = new[] { "1", "2", "3" };
string data = "some string 1";
bool containsAny = values.Any(data.Contains);