How to: Search Strings Using String Methods (C# Programming Guide) 

The string type, which is an alias for the System.String class, provides a number of useful methods for searching the contents of a string. The following example uses the IndexOf, LastIndexOf, StartsWith, and EndsWith methods.

Example

class StringSearch
{
    static void Main()
    {
        string str = "A silly sentence used for silly purposes.";
        System.Console.WriteLine("'{0}'",str);

        bool test1 = str.StartsWith("a silly");
        System.Console.WriteLine("starts with 'a silly'? {0}", test1);

        bool test2 = str.StartsWith("a silly", System.StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
        System.Console.WriteLine("starts with 'a silly'? {0} (ignoring case)", test2);

        bool test3 = str.EndsWith(".");
        System.Console.WriteLine("ends with '.'? {0}", test3);

        int first = str.IndexOf("silly");
        int last = str.LastIndexOf("silly");
        string str2 = str.Substring(first, last - first);
        System.Console.WriteLine("between two 'silly' words: '{0}'", str2);
    }
}

Output

'A silly sentence used for silly purposes.'
starts with 'a silly'? False
starts with 'a silly'? True (ignore case)
ends with '.'? True
between two 'silly' words: 'silly sentence used for '

See Also

Concepts

C# Programming Guide

Other Resources

Strings (C# Programming Guide)