xElement query equivalent for sql like

Question

I am extracting data from a xml document into a structure using an xElement query. I would like to limit the data being stored to only when certain fields contain part of a particular string.

This code works, but the string has to be an exact match.

 var data = from query in xmlDocFromPage.Descendants("DIRECTORY")
                   where (string)query.Element("lastNAME") == "Smith"
                   select new contactDataClass
                   {
                       lastName = (string)query.Element("lastNAME"),
                       firstName = (string)query.Element("firstNAME"),
                       middleName = (string)query.Element("middleNAME")
                   };

I am trying to achieve the equivalent of the following sql looking statment.

where (string)query.Element("lastNAME") like "%Smith%"

Is it possible?

Answer 1

You can use the string.Contains method (after null-checking in case the node doesn't exist):

where query.Element("lastNAME") != null && query.Element("lastNAME").Value.Contains("Smith")