TStringList.IndexOf: wildcard within indexof?

Question

I want to retrieve the linenumber in a stringlist (loaded from a file). Indexof seems to match exactly. Is there a way to retrieve the line with a wildcard-version of Indexof? something like SL.Indexof('?sometext')?

Thanks!

Answer 1

If you want to match some part of the string, without any fancy wildcards, as you indicate in a comment to another answer, then you can use a simple function like this:

function FindMatchStr(Strings: TStrings; const SubStr: string): Integer;
begin    
  for Result := 0 to Strings.Count-1 do
    if ContainsStr(Strings[Result], SubStr) then
      exit;
  Result := -1;
end;

If you want a case-insensitive match then you can use this:

function FindMatchText(Strings: TStrings; const SubStr: string): Integer;
begin    
  for Result := 0 to Strings.Count-1 do
    if ContainsText(Strings[Result], SubStr) then
      exit;
  Result := -1;
end;

ContainsStr and ContainsText are defined in the StrUtils RTL unit and follow the standard convention of Str to indicate case sensitive comparison, and Text to indicate case insensitive.

Answer 2

There's no built-in way to search TStringList for wildcards. You need to use a third-party library, such as TPerlRegEx for regular expressions.