c# - How can I check for string values in a Dictionary<string, List<string[]>>() object? -

to keep simple, have following dictionary fill unknown amount of strings every string key. have following list of strings.

var dict = new dictionary<string, list<string[]>>(); ilist<string> headerlist = new list<string>(); 

how can check if string list value in dictionary? data looks similar this:

 key           value  -----         ------------------  car           honda, volks, benz  truck         chevy, ford 

i need check if "honda", example, contained int dictionary values. thinking need following see if values contain list, contain string in question. keep in mind new c#.

    foreach (string header in headerlist)     {         // wrong, don't know put in if statement          if (dict.containsvalue(r => r.contains(header)))         {             // stuff          }     } 

john odom correct, need list.

what suggest use hashset<string> internally value of diictionary. e.g. dictionary<string, hashset<string>>

then when comes querying can this:

 headerlist.where(x => dict.values.any(d => d.contains(x))).tolist() 

have @ .net nested loops vs hash lookups performance comparison