ArrayFilter - Filtering arrays of any type, with many options

' Filter the input array. It can work with string arrays or arrays of other 
' type!
' The input array is modified by removing the elements that do not match the 
' filter options, but the array is not actually re-sized. The filter results 
' will be moved at the beginning of the array, and empty elements will be left 
' at the end. The function returns the number of elements that match the filter 
' options however, so that you can manually redim the array if you want to.
' 
' Example:
'   Dim arr() As String = {"this is a String", "this is another one",
'  "test string", "will it work?", "ok"}
'   ' include all the elements that have "string" within them
'   Dim numElements As Integer = ArrayFilter(arr, "string", False, False, True)
'
'   Dim i As Integer
'   Debug.WriteLine("--- Start ---")
'   For i = 0 To numElements - 1
'       Debug.WriteLine(arr(i))
'   Next
'   Debug.WriteLine("--- End ---")
'
'   ' exclude all the 4 elements
'   Dim arr2() As Integer = {1, 4, 7, 9, 11, 43, 56, 4, 11, 1}
'   numElements = ArrayFilter(arr2, 4, False, False, False)
'
'   Debug.WriteLine("--- Start ---")
'   For i = 0 To numElements - 1
'       Debug.WriteLine(arr2(i))
'   Next
'   Debug.WriteLine("--- End ---")

Function ArrayFilter(ByVal arr As Array, ByVal search As Object) As Integer
    Return ArrayFilter(arr, search, True)
End Function

' This overloaded version adds the possibility to choose whether the search is 
' case sensitive or not
Function ArrayFilter(ByVal arr As Array, ByVal search As Object, _
    ByVal caseSensitive As Boolean) As Integer
    Return ArrayFilter(arr, search, caseSensitive, True)
End Function

' This overloaded version adds the possibility to choose whether partial search 
' results are accepted or not
Function ArrayFilter(ByVal arr As Array, ByVal search As Object, _
    ByVal caseSensitive As Boolean, ByVal exactMatch As Boolean) As Integer
    Return ArrayFilter(arr, search, caseSensitive, exactMatch, True)
End Function

' This overloaded version adds the possibility to choose whether the search 
' results are included or excluded in/from the filtered array
Function ArrayFilter(ByVal arr As Array, ByVal search As Object, _
    ByVal caseSensitive As Boolean, ByVal exactMatch As Boolean, _
    ByVal include As Boolean) 
As Integer
    Return ArrayFilter(arr, search, caseSensitive, exactMatch, include, _
        arr.GetLowerBound(0), arr.GetUpperBound(0))
End Function

' This overloaded version adds the possibility to choose the portion of the 
' array to be filtered
Function ArrayFilter(ByVal arr As Array, ByVal search As Object, _
    ByVal caseSensitive As Boolean, ByVal exactMatch As Boolean, _
    ByVal include As Boolean, 
ByVal first As Integer, ByVal last As Integer) As Integer
    Dim strSearch As String
    Dim removeElement As Boolean
    Dim isStringArr As Boolean
    Dim numRemoved As Integer

    ' if this is a String array,
    If TypeOf arr Is String() Then
        isStringArr = True
        ' convert the search object to a string, and if the caseSensitive 
        ' option is not True, convert it to lower case
        strSearch = search.ToString()
        If Not caseSensitive Then strSearch = strSearch.ToLower()
    End If

    Dim i As Integer
    For i = last To first Step -1
        removeElement = False
        ' if this is a string array...
        If isStringArr Then
            ' ...convert the array's item to string, and to lower case is the 
            ' filter is not case sensitive
            Dim strValue As String = CType(arr.GetValue(i), String)
            If Not caseSensitive Then strValue = strValue.ToLower()

            If exactMatch Then
                ' if this is an exact match, remove or leave the element 
                ' according to the include option
                If strSearch = strValue Then
                    If Not include Then removeElement = True
                Else
                    If include Then removeElement = True
                End If
            Else
                ' if this is a partial match, remove or leave the element 
                ' according to the include option
                If strValue.IndexOf(strSearch) > -1 Then
                    If Not include Then removeElement = True
                Else
                    If include Then removeElement = True
                End If
            End If
        Else
            ' if not a string array, use the Object's Equals method for value 
            ' comparison
            Dim oValue = arr.GetValue(i)
            If oValue.Equals(search) Then
                If Not include Then removeElement = True
            Else
                If include Then removeElement = True
            End If
        End If

        If removeElement Then
            ' shift elements from arr(index+1) to arr(index)
            Array.Copy(arr, i + 1, arr, i, arr.GetUpperBound(0) - i)
            ' clear the last element
            arr.Clear(arr, arr.GetUpperBound(0), 1)
            ' increment the counter of removed elements
            numRemoved += 1
        End If
    Next

    Return arr.Length - numRemoved
End Function