How to do SQL Like % in Linq?

I have a procedure in SQL that I am trying to turn into Linq:

SELECT O.Id, O.Name as Organization
FROM Organizations O
JOIN OrganizationsHierarchy OH ON O.Id=OH.OrganizationsId
where OH.Hierarchy like '%/12/%'

The line I am most concerned with is:

where OH.Hierarchy like '%/12/%'

I have a column that stores the hierarchy like /1/3/12/ for example so I just use %/12/% to search for it.

My question is, what is the Linq or .NET equivalent to using the percent sign?

.Where(oh => oh.Hierarchy.Contains("/12/"))

You can also use .StartsWith() or .EndsWith().

Use this:

from c in dc.Organization
where SqlMethods.Like(c.Hierarchy, "%/12/%")
select *;

I'm assuming you're using Linq-to-SQL* (see note below). If so, use string.Contains, string.StartsWith, and string.EndsWith to generate SQL that use the SQL LIKE operator.

from o in dc.Organization
join oh in dc.OrganizationsHierarchy on o.Id equals oh.OrganizationsId
where oh.Hierarchy.Contains(@"/12/")
select new { o.Id, o.Name }

or

from o in dc.Organization
where o.OrganizationsHierarchy.Hierarchy.Contains(@"/12/")
select new { o.Id, o.Name }

Note: * = if you are using the ADO.Net Entity Framework (EF / L2E) in .net 3.5, be aware that it will not do the same translation as Linq-to-SQL. Although L2S does a proper translation, L2E v1 (3.5) will translate into a t-sql expression that will force a full table scan on the table you're querying unless there is another better discriminator in your where clause or join filters.
Update: This is fixed in EF/L2E v4 (.net 4.0), so it will generate a SQL LIKE just like L2S does.

If you are using VB.NET, then the answer would be "*". Here is what your where clause would look like...

Where OH.Hierarchy Like '*/12/*'

Note: "*" Matches zero or more characters. Here is the msdn article for the Like operator.

Well indexOf works for me too

var result = from c in SampleList
where c.LongName.IndexOf(SearchQuery) >= 0
select c;

.NET core now has EF.Functions.Like

  var isMatch = EF.Functions.Like(stringThatMightMatch, pattern);

Use such code

try
{
    using (DatosDataContext dtc = new DatosDataContext())
    {
        var query = from pe in dtc.Personal_Hgo
                    where SqlMethods.Like(pe.nombre, "%" + txtNombre.Text + "%")
                    select new
                    {
                        pe.numero
                        ,
                        pe.nombre
                    };
        dgvDatos.DataSource = query.ToList();
    }
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
    string mensaje = ex.Message;
}

In case you are not matching numeric strings, always good to have common case:

.Where(oh => oh.Hierarchy.ToUpper().Contains(mySearchString.ToUpper()))

I do always this:

from h in OH
where h.Hierarchy.Contains("/12/")
select h

I know I don't use the like statement but it's work fine in the background is this translated into a query with a like statement.

System.Data.Linq.SqlClient.SqlMethods.Like("mystring", "%string")

Try this, this works fine for me

from record in context.Organization where record.Hierarchy.Contains(12) select record;

Way late, but I threw this together to be able to do String comparisons using SQL Like style wildcards:

public static class StringLikeExtensions
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Tests a string to be Like another string containing SQL Like style wildcards
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="value">string to be searched</param>
    /// <param name="searchString">the search string containing wildcards</param>
    /// <returns>value.Like(searchString)</returns>
    /// <example>value.Like("a")</example>
    /// <example>value.Like("a%")</example>
    /// <example>value.Like("%b")</example>
    /// <example>value.Like("a%b")</example>
    /// <example>value.Like("a%b%c")</example>
    /// <remarks>base author -- Ruard van Elburg from StackOverflow, modifications by dvn</remarks>
    /// <remarks>converted to a String extension by sja</remarks>
    /// <seealso cref="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1040380/wildcard-search-for-linq"/>
    public static bool Like(this String value, string searchString)
    {
        bool result = false;

        var likeParts = searchString.Split(new char[] { '%' });

        for (int i = 0; i < likeParts.Length; i++)
        {
            if (likeParts[i] == String.Empty)
            {
                continue;   // "a%"
            }

            if (i == 0)
            {
                if (likeParts.Length == 1) // "a"
                {
                    result = value.Equals(likeParts[i], StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
                }
                else // "a%" or "a%b"
                {
                    result = value.StartsWith(likeParts[i], StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
                }
            }
            else if (i == likeParts.Length - 1) // "a%b" or "%b"
            {
                result &= value.EndsWith(likeParts[i], StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
            }
            else // "a%b%c"
            {
                int current = value.IndexOf(likeParts[i], StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
                int previous = value.IndexOf(likeParts[i - 1], StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
                result &= previous < current;
            }
        }

        return result;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Tests a string containing SQL Like style wildcards to be ReverseLike another string 
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="value">search string containing wildcards</param>
    /// <param name="compareString">string to be compared</param>
    /// <returns>value.ReverseLike(compareString)</returns>
    /// <example>value.ReverseLike("a")</example>
    /// <example>value.ReverseLike("abc")</example>
    /// <example>value.ReverseLike("ab")</example>
    /// <example>value.ReverseLike("axb")</example>
    /// <example>value.ReverseLike("axbyc")</example>
    /// <remarks>reversed logic of Like String extension</remarks>
    public static bool ReverseLike(this String value, string compareString)
    {
        bool result = false;

        var likeParts = value.Split(new char[] {'%'});

        for (int i = 0; i < likeParts.Length; i++)
        {
            if (likeParts[i] == String.Empty)
            {
                continue;   // "a%"
            }

            if (i == 0)
            {
                if (likeParts.Length == 1) // "a"
                {
                    result = compareString.Equals(likeParts[i], StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
                }
                else // "a%" or "a%b"
                {
                    result = compareString.StartsWith(likeParts[i], StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
                }
            }
            else if (i == likeParts.Length - 1) // "a%b" or "%b"
            {
                result &= compareString.EndsWith(likeParts[i], StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
            }
            else // "a%b%c"
            {
                int current = compareString.IndexOf(likeParts[i], StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
                int previous = compareString.IndexOf(likeParts[i - 1], StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
                result &= previous < current;
            }
        }

        return result;
    }
}

Contains is used in Linq ,Just like Like is used in SQL .

string _search="/12/";

. . .

.Where(s => s.Hierarchy.Contains(_search))

You can write your SQL script in Linq as Following :

 var result= Organizations.Join(OrganizationsHierarchy.Where(s=>s.Hierarchy.Contains("/12/")),s=>s.Id,s=>s.OrganizationsId,(org,orgH)=>new {org,orgH});

For those how tumble here like me looking for a way to a "SQL Like" method in LINQ, I've something that is working very good.

I'm in a case where I cannot alter the Database in any way to change the column collation. So I've to find a way in my LINQ to do it.

I'm using the helper method SqlFunctions.PatIndex witch act similarly to the real SQL LIKE operator.

First I need enumerate all possible diacritics (a word that I just learned) in the search value to get something like:

déjà     => d[éèêëeÉÈÊËE]j[aàâäAÀÂÄ]
montreal => montr[éèêëeÉÈÊËE][aàâäAÀÂÄ]l
montréal => montr[éèêëeÉÈÊËE][aàâäAÀÂÄ]l

and then in LINQ for exemple:

> var city = "montr[éèêëeÉÈÊËE][aàâäAÀÂÄ]l"; > var data = (from loc in _context.Locations > where SqlFunctions.PatIndex(city, loc.City) > 0 > select loc.City).ToList();

So for my needs I've written a Helper/Extension method

   public static class SqlServerHelper
    {
            
        private static readonly List<KeyValuePair<string, string>> Diacritics = new List<KeyValuePair<string, string>>()
        {
            new KeyValuePair<string, string>("A", "aàâäAÀÂÄ"),
            new KeyValuePair<string, string>("E", "éèêëeÉÈÊËE"),
            new KeyValuePair<string, string>("U", "uûüùUÛÜÙ"),
            new KeyValuePair<string, string>("C", "cçCÇ"),
            new KeyValuePair<string, string>("I", "iîïIÎÏ"),
            new KeyValuePair<string, string>("O", "ôöÔÖ"),
            new KeyValuePair<string, string>("Y", "YŸÝýyÿ")
        };

        public static string EnumarateDiacritics(this string stringToDiatritics)
        {
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(stringToDiatritics.Trim()))
                return stringToDiatritics;

            var diacriticChecked = string.Empty;
            
            foreach (var c in stringToDiatritics.ToCharArray())
            {
                var diac = Diacritics.FirstOrDefault(o => o.Value.ToCharArray().Contains(c));
                if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(diac.Key))
                    continue;

                //Prevent from doing same letter/Diacritic more than one time
                if (diacriticChecked.Contains(diac.Key))
                    continue;

                diacriticChecked += diac.Key;

                stringToDiatritics = stringToDiatritics.Replace(c.ToString(), "[" + diac.Value + "]");
            }

            stringToDiatritics = "%" + stringToDiatritics + "%";
            return stringToDiatritics;
        }
    }

If any of you have suggestion to enhance this method, I'll be please to hear you.

If you need the LIKE functionality for a client operation like Unit Testing, this method by CodeProject mimics the behavior of wildcards well.

A bit like @Steve Ackerman's answer, but more comprehensive.

/// Published on CodeProject: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/
///         608266/A-Csharp-LIKE-implementation-that-mimics-SQL-LIKE
/// </remarks>
public static bool Like(this string s, string match, bool CaseInsensitive = true)
{
    //Nothing matches a null mask or null input string
    if (match == null || s == null)
        return false;
    //Null strings are treated as empty and get checked against the mask.
    //If checking is case-insensitive we convert to uppercase to facilitate this.
    if (CaseInsensitive)
    {
        s = s.ToUpperInvariant();
        match = match.ToUpperInvariant();
    }
    //Keeps track of our position in the primary string - s.
    int j = 0;
    //Used to keep track of multi-character wildcards.
    bool matchanymulti = false;
    //Used to keep track of multiple possibility character masks.
    string multicharmask = null;
    bool inversemulticharmask = false;
    for (int i = 0; i < match.Length; i++)
    {
        //If this is the last character of the mask and its a % or * we are done
        if (i == match.Length - 1 && (match[i] == '%' || match[i] == '*'))
            return true;
        //A direct character match allows us to proceed.
        var charcheck = true;
        //Backslash acts as an escape character.  If we encounter it, proceed
        //to the next character.
        if (match[i] == '\\')
        {
            i++;
            if (i == match.Length)
                i--;
        }
        else
        {
            //If this is a wildcard mask we flag it and proceed with the next character
            //in the mask.
            if (match[i] == '%' || match[i] == '*')
            {
                matchanymulti = true;
                continue;
            }
            //If this is a single character wildcard advance one character.
            if (match[i] == '_')
            {
                //If there is no character to advance we did not find a match.
                if (j == s.Length)
                    return false;
                j++;
                continue;
            }
            if (match[i] == '[')
            {
                var endbracketidx = match.IndexOf(']', i);
                //Get the characters to check for.
                multicharmask = match.Substring(i + 1, endbracketidx - i - 1);
                //Check for inversed masks
                inversemulticharmask = multicharmask.StartsWith("^");
                //Remove the inversed mask character
                if (inversemulticharmask)
                    multicharmask = multicharmask.Remove(0, 1);
                //Unescape \^ to ^
                multicharmask = multicharmask.Replace("\\^", "^");
                
                //Prevent direct character checking of the next mask character
                //and advance to the next mask character.
                charcheck = false;
                i = endbracketidx;
                //Detect and expand character ranges
                if (multicharmask.Length == 3 && multicharmask[1] == '-')
                {
                    var newmask = "";
                    var first = multicharmask[0];
                    var last = multicharmask[2];
                    if (last < first)
                    {
                        first = last;
                        last = multicharmask[0];
                    }
                    var c = first;
                    while (c <= last)
                    {
                        newmask += c;
                        c++;
                    }
                    multicharmask = newmask;
                }
                //If the mask is invalid we cannot find a mask for it.
                if (endbracketidx == -1)
                    return false;
            }
        }
        //Keep track of match finding for this character of the mask.
        var matched = false;
        while (j < s.Length)
        {
            //This character matches, move on.
            if (charcheck && s[j] == match[i])
            {
                j++;
                matched = true;
                break;
            }
            //If we need to check for multiple charaters to do.
            if (multicharmask != null)
            {
                var ismatch = multicharmask.Contains(s[j]);
                //If this was an inverted mask and we match fail the check for this string.
                //If this was not an inverted mask check and we did not match fail for this string.
                if (inversemulticharmask && ismatch ||
                    !inversemulticharmask && !ismatch)
                {
                    //If we have a wildcard preceding us we ignore this failure
                    //and continue checking.
                    if (matchanymulti)
                    {
                        j++;
                        continue;
                    }
                    return false;
                }
                j++;
                matched = true;
                //Consumse our mask.
                multicharmask = null;
                break;
            }
            //We are in an multiple any-character mask, proceed to the next character.
            if (matchanymulti)
            {
                j++;
                continue;
            }
            break;
        }
        //We've found a match - proceed.
        if (matched)
        {
            matchanymulti = false;
            continue;
        }

        //If no match our mask fails
        return false;
    }
    //Some characters are left - our mask check fails.
    if (j < s.Length)
        return false;
    //We've processed everything - this is a match.
    return true;
}