Matching strings with wildcard

You could use the VB.NET Like-Operator:

string text = "x is not the same as X and yz not the same as YZ";
bool contains = LikeOperator.LikeString(text,"*X*YZ*", Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompareMethod.Binary);  

Use CompareMethod.Text if you want to ignore the case.

You need to add using Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices; and add a reference to the Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll.

Since it's part of the .NET framework and will always be, it's not a problem to use this class.

Often, wild cards operate with two type of jokers:

  ? - any character  (one and only one)
  * - any characters (zero or more)

so you can easily convert these rules into appropriate regular expression:

// If you want to implement both "*" and "?"
private static String WildCardToRegular(String value) {
  return "^" + Regex.Escape(value).Replace("\\?", ".").Replace("\\*", ".*") + "$"; 
}

// If you want to implement "*" only
private static String WildCardToRegular(String value) {
  return "^" + Regex.Escape(value).Replace("\\*", ".*") + "$"; 
}

And then you can use Regex as usual:

  String test = "Some Data X";

  Boolean endsWithEx = Regex.IsMatch(test, WildCardToRegular("*X"));
  Boolean startsWithS = Regex.IsMatch(test, WildCardToRegular("S*"));
  Boolean containsD = Regex.IsMatch(test, WildCardToRegular("*D*"));

  // Starts with S, ends with X, contains "me" and "a" (in that order) 
  Boolean complex = Regex.IsMatch(test, WildCardToRegular("S*me*a*X"));

Using of WildcardPattern from System.Management.Automation may be an option.

pattern = new WildcardPattern(patternString);
pattern.IsMatch(stringToMatch);

Visual Studio UI may not allow you to add System.Management.Automation assembly to References of your project. Feel free to add it manually, as described here.