Case-Insensitive List Search

Question

I realise this is an old post, but just in case anyone else is looking, you can use Contains by providing the case insensitive string equality comparer like so:

using System.Linq;

// ...

if (testList.Contains(keyword, StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
{
    Console.WriteLine("Keyword Exists");
}

This has been available since .net 2.0 according to msdn.

Instead of String.IndexOf, use String.Equals to ensure you don't have partial matches. Also don't use FindAll as that goes through every element, use FindIndex (it stops on the first one it hits).

if(testList.FindIndex(x => x.Equals(keyword,  
    StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) ) != -1) 
    Console.WriteLine("Found in list"); 

Alternately use some LINQ methods (which also stops on the first one it hits)

if( testList.Any( s => s.Equals(keyword, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) ) )
    Console.WriteLine("found in list");

Based on Adam Sills answer above - here's a nice clean extensions method for Contains... :)

///----------------------------------------------------------------------
/// <summary>
/// Determines whether the specified list contains the matching string value
/// </summary>
/// <param name="list">The list.</param>
/// <param name="value">The value to match.</param>
/// <param name="ignoreCase">if set to <c>true</c> the case is ignored.</param>
/// <returns>
///   <c>true</c> if the specified list contais the matching string; otherwise, <c>false</c>.
/// </returns>
///----------------------------------------------------------------------
public static bool Contains(this List<string> list, string value, bool ignoreCase = false)
{
    return ignoreCase ?
        list.Any(s => s.Equals(value, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)) :
        list.Contains(value);
}

You can use StringComparer:

    var list = new List<string>();
    list.Add("cat");
    list.Add("dog");
    list.Add("moth");

    if (list.Contains("MOTH", StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
    {
        Console.WriteLine("found");
    }

Based on Lance Larsen answer - here's an extension method with the recommended string.Compare instead of string.Equals

It is highly recommended that you use an overload of String.Compare that takes a StringComparison parameter. Not only do these overloads allow you to define the exact comparison behavior you intended, using them will also make your code more readable for other developers. [Josh Free @ BCL Team Blog]

public static bool Contains(this List<string> source, string toCheck, StringComparison comp)
{
    return
       source != null &&
       !string.IsNullOrEmpty(toCheck) &&
       source.Any(x => string.Compare(x, toCheck, comp) == 0);
}