Find multiple controls with by partially matching their name

Question

I currently have 100+ labels, with names like:

labelNumber1 
labelNumber2 
labelNumber3 
labelNumber4 
....
labelLetter1
labelLetter2 
labelLetter3 
labelLet         


        

Answer 1

I know this is an old question, but I am here now, and:

• The question asks about searching for multiple controls. This solution actually applies to any type of control.
• OP was conflicted between using "Contains" or regex. I vote for regex! string.Contains is a bad idea for this kind of filter, since "CoolButton" has a "Button" in it too"

Anyway, here is the code:

public List FindByPattern(string regexPattern)
  where TControlType:Control
{
   return Controls.OfType()
                  .Where(control => Regex.IsMatch(control.Name, regexPattern))
                  .ToList();
}

Usage:

//some regex samples you can test out
var startsWithLabel = $"^Label"; //Matches like .StartsWith()
var containsLabel = "Label"; //Matches like .Contains()
var startsWithLabelEndsWithNumber = "^Label.*\\d+&"; //matches Label8sdf12 and Label8
var containsLabelEndsWithNumber = "Label.*\\d+&"; //matches MyLabelRocks83475, MyLabel8Rocks54389, MyLabel8, Label8
var hasAnyNumber= "^CoolLabel\\d+$"; //matches CoolLabel437627

var labels = FindByPattern("^MyCoolLabel.*\\d+&");
var buttons = FindByPattern