What would be C# equivalent for SQL “>” operator in where clause for char column

working on an c# application i came across something that I don’t quite understand.

I have SQL column KONTO char(15) and it contains numeric data. When I run the following query…

select * from MyDatabase..GkKon

I get this result…

and thats just fine.

My C# code providing the same result is:

using (MyDatabaseEntities db = new MyDatabaseEntities())
{
    var data = db.GkKons.ToList();
    dataGridView1.DataSource = data;
}

I came across problem when I tried to select where greater than “01”

select * from MyDatabase..GkKon 
where KONTO>'01'

SQL did the job and I got

I tried doing something similar in C# but it gives me syntax error.

using (MyDatabaseEntities db = new MyDatabaseEntities())
{
    var data = db.GkKons.Where(x=>x.KONTO>"01").ToList();
    dataGridView1.DataSource = data;
}

Because LINQ can’t use “>” on two strings. I tried using SqlCommand and Parameters to get the data and it works, but I am using EF and it seems its causing me problem.

Is there a way to do this using LINQ and EF? How does SQL do this “magic”?

Answer

Sql is comparing the byte value the coallition of the string. In c# you compare similar to that using the method string.Compare(s1,s2) it returns

s1==s2 returns 0  
s1>s2 returns 1  
s1<s2 returns -1  

something like this:

 var data = db.GkKons.Where(x=>string.Compare(x.KONTO,"01")==1).ToList();

or if you need the numeric order of the strings you can cast it to an int :

 var data = db.GkKons.Where(x=>int.Parse(x.KONTO)>1).ToList();

keep in mind that :

> string.Compare("0010", "01"); evaluates to
-1
but 
> string.Compare("10", "01"); evaluates to
1

---

Edit: changed byte value to coallition as @Gordon Linoff sugested