CODEWITHSUNDEEP
vb.netlinq
Marcus
Marcus

Reputation: 3

Like operator doesn't work in Linq query

I have the following LINQ query to filter files:

Dim arrayFiles As FileInfo()
Dim strFolder As String = "C:\Temp"
Dim strSearch As String = "[AFile].*"

Dim directoryInfo As DirectoryInfo = New IO.DirectoryInfo(Path:=strFolder)
arrayFiles = directoryInfo.GetFiles(searchPattern:=strSearch, 
                                    searchOption:=SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly).
                 Where(Function(s) s.Name.ToUpper Like strSearch.ToUpper).
                 ToArray()

In this example the specified folder contains 1 files: "[AFile].PDF". The above example returns 0 files (array is empty).

If I change the search pattern to "AFile.PDF" or "*.*" then I do get the correct array with 1 file.

Why does the search pattern "AFile.*" doesn't work in this example?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 188

Answers (1)

Konrad Kokosa
Konrad Kokosa

Reputation: 16898

You are providing a search pattern to GetFiles so there is no need to use additional Where:

arrayFiles = (New IO.DirectoryInfo(Path:=strFolder)).GetFiles(searchPattern:=strSearch,
                                   searchOption:=SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly).ToArray

Your code is not working because [] brackets have a special meaning in VB.NET LIKE operator:

[ charlist ] - Any single character in charlist

Hence you need to escape this special characters by enclosing them in brackets:

Dim strSearch As String = "[[]AFile[]].*"

Note: In fact you can escape only [ because ] has special meaning only when it is paired with [.

Upvotes: 1

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