ok, I have a custom controller where I run a SOPL query and fill a list ir with the results.

Then I loop through ir and count up all the items according to result__c and device_type__c.

here's my code: 

public integer Devtotal(string dev, string res){ integer i = 0; for (inspection_result__c result : this.ir){ if ((result.device_type__c == dev)&&(result.result__c == res)){ i++; } } return i; }

So devtotal('smoke detector', 'passed') returns all the smoke detectors that passed, and devtotal('pull station', 'failed') returns all the pull stations that failed, and so on.

The problem is In my device_type__c field I have 'pull station' and 'smoke detector', but I also have 'pull station (double)',  'pull station (single)', 'smoke detector (ion)' and 'smoke detector (photo)'.

What happens right now is I get counts for each category, but what I want is counts for all the pull stations ('pull station' + 'pull station (double)' + 'pull station (single)') under pull station.

I could hard code this in, but if I ever add another option to my device_type__c picklist, I don't want to have to edit my controller.

What I want to be able to do is use a wildcard of some kind,  but I don't know if wildcards word here, in Apex as opposed to a SOQL query.

Something like this:

public integer Devtotal(string dev, string res){

dev = dev+'*';

integer i = 0; for (inspection_result__c result : this.ir){ if ((result.device_type__c like dev)&&(result.result__c == res)){ i++; } } return i; }

Obviously the above code won't work, so what would I do to make it work?