Find a string value between 2 strings

Question

I have a database that I load with EntityFramework.

In this database there is a table that contains a couple of columns. 2 of those columns are called ZipcodeFrom and ZipcodeTill. The Zipcodes in the table are from different countries, so there is no real standard format.

The problem I have now is the following.

I receive a Zipcode and I need to find the row which contains the Zipcode range associated with the received Zipcode.

I can't use SQL to use the BETWEEN function. So I'm looking for a BETWEEN function for C# if (Zipcode BETWEEN ZipcodeFrom and ZipcodeTill)

@jonamreddy loading an entire zipcode database is not a good idea, typically - perhaps unless you're using a file based library — Marc Gravell
– Marc Gravell, Commented Apr 23, 2015 at 8:45
It really all depends on the format of the Zipcodes and when you define a Zipcode to be "between" two other zipcodes. For example: a dutch zipcode consists of 4 numbers followed by two letters. Would 1234BC be between 1234BB and 1234 BD? And would it be between 1234AC and 1234CC? The best way in my opinion would be to treat a zipcode as a base-36 number and do your work based on that, but do all zipcodes follow a format where they are build up out of just numbers and letters? — Nils O
– Nils O, Commented Apr 23, 2015 at 8:48

DavidG · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-23 12:29:41Z

1

Assuming you are doing this alphabetically, this effectively mimics a SQL BETWEEN operation:

var zipCode = "SOMECODE";

var result = from row in db.Table
             where row.ZipcodeFrom <= zipCode
             && row.ZipcodeTo >= zipCode;

If your provider doesn't support using <, <=, > and >= operators, you should be able to use string.Compare instead:

var result = from row in db.Table
             where string.Compare(row.ZipcodeFrom, zipCode) <= 0
             && string.Compare(row.ZipcodeTo, zipCode) >= 0;

edited Apr 23, 2015 at 12:29

answered Apr 23, 2015 at 8:48

DavidG

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1 Comment

Rob v K Over a year ago

The problem here is that when i do this the following error occurs because i'm comparing strings: Operator >= cannot be applied to operands of type string and string

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