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String.LastIndexOf Method (String, Int32)

Microsoft Silverlight will reach end of support after October 2021. Learn more.

Updated: October 2010

Reports the zero-based index position of the last occurrence of a specified string within this instance. The search starts at a specified character position.

Namespace:  System
Assembly:  mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
Public Function LastIndexOf ( _
    value As String, _
    startIndex As Integer _
) As Integer
public int LastIndexOf(
    string value,
    int startIndex
)

Parameters

  • startIndex
    Type: System.Int32
    The search starting position.

Return Value

Type: System.Int32
The zero-based index position of value if that string is found, or -1 if it is not found or if the current instance equals String.Empty. If value is String.Empty, the return value is the smaller of startIndex and the last index position in this instance.

Exceptions

Exception Condition
ArgumentNullException

value is nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).

ArgumentOutOfRangeException

The current instance does not equal String.Empty, and startIndex is less than zero or greater than the length of the current instance.

-or-

The current instance equals String.Empty, and startIndex is greater than zero.

Remarks

Index numbering starts from zero. That is, the first character in the string is at index zero and the last is at Length - 1.

The search begins at the startIndex character position of this instance and proceeds backward toward the beginning until either value is found or the first character position has been examined. For example, if startIndex is Length - 1, the method searches every character from the last character in the string to the beginning.

This method performs a word (case-sensitive and culture-sensitive) search using the current culture. The search begins at the startIndex character position of this instance and proceeds backward until either value is found or the first character position has been examined.

Notes to Callers

Starting in Silverlight 4, the behavior of the String.LastIndexOf(String, Int32) method has changed. In Silverlight 4, it performs a case-sensitive and culture-sensitive comparison using the current culture to find the last occurrence of value before the startIndex character position. This conforms to the behavior of the String.LastIndexOf(String, Int32) method in the full .NET Framework. In Silverlight 2 and Silverlight 3, String.LastIndexOf(String, Int32) performs an ordinal comparison. If the common language runtime determines that a Silverlight-based application was compiled against Silverlight 2 or Silverlight 3, it performs an ordinal comparison; otherwise, it performs a culture-sensitive comparison.

Examples

The following code example finds the index of all occurrences of a string in target string, working from the end of the target string to the start of the target string.

' Sample for String.LastIndexOf(String, Int32)
 _

Class Example

   Public Shared Sub Demo(ByVal outputBlock As System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock)

      Dim br1 As String = "0----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+----6----+-"
      Dim br2 As String = "0123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456"
      Dim str As String = "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party."
      Dim start As Integer
      Dim at As Integer

      '#3
      start = str.Length - 1
      outputBlock.Text += String.Format("All occurrences of 'he' from position {0} to 0.", start) & vbCrLf
      outputBlock.Text += String.Format("{1}{0}{2}{0}{3}{0}", Environment.NewLine, br1, br2, str) & vbCrLf
      outputBlock.Text &= "The string 'he' occurs at position(s): "

      at = 0
      While start > -1 And at > -1
         at = str.LastIndexOf("he", start)
         If at > -1 Then
            outputBlock.Text += String.Format("{0} ", at)
            start = at - 1
         End If
      End While
      outputBlock.Text += String.Format("{0}{0}{0}", Environment.NewLine)
   End Sub 'Main 
End Class 'Sample
'
'This example produces the following results:
'All occurrences of 'he' from position 66 to 0.
'0----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+----6----+-
'0123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456
'Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party.
'
'The string 'he' occurs at position(s): 56 45 8
'
'
// Sample for String.LastIndexOf(String, Int32)
using System;

class Example
{
   public static void Demo(System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock outputBlock)
   {

      string br1 = "0----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+----6----+-";
      string br2 = "0123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456";
      string str = "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party.";
      int start;
      int at;

      start = str.Length - 1;
      outputBlock.Text += String.Format("All occurrences of 'he' from position {0} to 0.", start) + "\n";
      outputBlock.Text += String.Format("{1}{0}{2}{0}{3}{0}", Environment.NewLine, br1, br2, str) + "\n";
      outputBlock.Text += "The string 'he' occurs at position(s): ";

      at = 0;
      while ((start > -1) && (at > -1))
      {
         at = str.LastIndexOf("he", start);
         if (at > -1)
         {
            outputBlock.Text += String.Format("{0} ", at);
            start = at - 1;
         }
      }
      outputBlock.Text += String.Format("{0}{0}{0}", Environment.NewLine);
   }
}
/*
This example produces the following results:
All occurrences of 'he' from position 66 to 0.
0----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+----6----+-
0123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456
Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party.

The string 'he' occurs at position(s): 56 45 8


*/

Version Information

Silverlight

Supported in: 5, 4, 3

Silverlight for Windows Phone

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.1, Windows Phone OS 7.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: Xbox 360, Windows Phone OS 7.0

Platforms

For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.

Change History

Date

History

Reason

October 2010

Noted that an exception is not thrown for an empty string if the index parameter is invalid.

Content bug fix.