How to: Search for a String in an Array of Strings (Visual Basic)
This example loops over each string in an array of strings to determine which ones contain the specified substring. For each match, the example displays the index of the substring in the string.
Example
The following example uses the Contains and IndexOf methods of the String object.
The Contains method indicates whether the string contains the specified substring.
The IndexOf method reports the location of the first character of the first occurrence of the substring. The index is 0-based, which means the first character of a string has an index of 0. If IndexOf does not find the substring, it returns -1.
Dim StrArray() As String = {"ABCDEFG", "HIJKLMNOP"}
Dim FindThisString As String = "JKL"
For Each Str As String In StrArray
If Str.Contains(FindThisString) Then
MsgBox("Found " & FindThisString & " at index " & _
Str.IndexOf(FindThisString))
End If
Next
This code example is also available as an IntelliSense code snippet. In the code snippet picker, it is located in Data Types - defined by Visual Basic. For more information, see How to: Insert Snippets Into Your Code (Visual Basic).
Compiling the Code
This example requires:
- An Imports statement specifying the System namespace. For more information, see Imports Statement (.NET Namespace and Type).
Robust Programming
The IndexOf method is case-sensitive and uses the current culture.
For optimal error control, you might want to enclose the string search in the Try block of a Try...Catch...Finally Statement (Visual Basic) construction.
See Also
Tasks
How to: Search Within a String (Visual Basic)
Reference
Try...Catch...Finally Statement (Visual Basic)