Filter Function (Visual Basic) 

Returns a zero-based array containing a subset of a String array based on specified filter criteria.

Function Filter(
   ByVal Source() As { Object | String },
   ByVal Match As String,
   Optional ByVal Include As Boolean = True,
   Optional ByVal Compare As CompareMethod = CompareMethod.Binary
)  As String()

Parameters

  • Source
    Required. One-dimensional array of strings to be searched.
  • Match
    Required. String to search for.
  • Include
    Optional. Boolean value indicating whether to return substrings that include or exclude Match. If Include is True, the Filter function returns the subset of the array that contains Match as a substring. If Include is False, the Filter function returns the subset of the array that does not contain Match as a substring.
  • Compare
    Optional. Numeric value indicating the kind of string comparison to use. See "Settings" for values.

Settings

The Compare argument can have the following values.

Constant Description

CompareMethod.Binary

Performs a binary comparison

CompareMethod.Text

Performs a textual comparison

Exceptions

Exception type Error number Condition

ArgumentException

9

Source is Nothing or is not a one-dimensional array.

See the "Error number" column if you are upgrading Visual Basic 6.0 applications that use unstructured error handling. (You can compare the error number against the Number Property (Err Object).) However, when possible, you should consider replacing such error control with Structured Exception Handling Overview for Visual Basic.

Remarks

If no matches of Match are found within Source, the Filter function returns an empty array. An error occurs if Source is set to Nothing or is not a one-dimensional array.

The array returned by the Filter function contains only enough elements to contain the number of matched items.

Example

This example demonstrates the use of the Filter function.

Dim TestStrings(2) As String
TestStrings(0) = "This"
TestStrings(1) = "Is"
TestStrings(2) = "It"
Dim subStrings() As String
' Returns ["This", "Is"].
subStrings = Filter(TestStrings, "is", True, CompareMethod.Text)
' Returns ["This"].
subStrings = Filter(TestStrings, "is", True, CompareMethod.Binary)
' Returns ["Is", "It"].
subStrings = Filter(TestStrings, "is", False, CompareMethod.Binary)

Requirements

Namespace: Microsoft.VisualBasic

Module: Strings

Assembly: Visual Basic Runtime Library (in Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll)

See Also

Reference

String Manipulation Summary
Replace Function (Visual Basic)
ArgumentException