Advanced List selection by strings when preprocessing data

Question

Below is a sample of the data I'm preprocessing. It's longer in both dimensions than what's shown. I already have a list of the string entries I want and now need grab the rows of numeric data associated with each.

{{"/SEB/AHU1/DischargeAirFlow.csv", 5593.62, 5593.62, 5593.62, 
  5530.92}, {"/SEB/AHU1/OutdoorAirFlow.csv", 4239.78, 4187.84, 
  4203.27, 4262.71}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV100/ZoneAirFlow.csv", 251., 243., 
  251., 251.}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV100/ZoneTemperature.csv", 69.9, 69.8, 
  69.8, 69.8}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV102/ZoneAirFlow.csv", 106., 87., 85., 
  85.}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV102/ZoneTemperature.csv", 70.1, 70.1, 70.1, 
  70.1}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV118/ZoneAirFlow.csv", 370., 372., 374., 
  372.}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV118/ZoneTemperature.csv", 69.4, 69.6, 69.4, 
  69.4}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV119/ZoneAirFlow.csv", 28., 26., 26., 
  32.}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV119/ZoneTemperature.csv", 70.1, 70.2, 70.2, 
  70.2}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV120/ZoneAirFlow.csv", 38., 0., 0., 
  32.}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV120/ZoneTemperature.csv", 70.7, 70.8, 70.7, 
  70.7}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV121/ZoneAirFlow.csv", 0., 33., 35., 
  35.}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV121/ZoneTemperature.csv", 71.1, 71.2, 71.2, 
  71.2}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV123A/ZoneAirFlow.csv", 269., 273., 222., 
  217.}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV123A/ZoneTemperature.csv", 70.6, 70.6, 70.6, 
  70.6}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV123B/ZoneAirFlow.csv", 314., 314., 262., 
  0.}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV127A/ZoneAirFlow.csv", 2144., 2153., 2157., 
  2153.}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV127A/ZoneTemperature.csv", 71.8, 71.8, 71.8, 
  71.8}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV127B/ZoneAirFlow.csv", 316., 312., 316., 
  312.}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV127B/ZoneTemperature.csv", 73.4, 73.3, 73.4, 
  73.4}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV129/ZoneAirFlow.csv", 48., 49., 49., 
  49.}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV129/ZoneTemperature.csv", 71.6, 71.7, 71.6, 
  71.6}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV131/ZoneAirFlow.csv", 34., 34., 35., 
  35.}, {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV131/ZoneTemperature.csv", 70.1, 70.1, 70.1, 
  70.1}}

Maybe it's best to convert everything to a Dataset first and select it that way but I rather only convert the smaller amount of data to a Dataset for further processing.

I tried a couple methods of using Cases and Select but was disappointed I couldn't get either to work and had to fall back on a Do loop. I was still left wondering if there was a better approach and wanted to learn it if anyone has any suggestions.

OldSchoolLoopFilter[data_] := Module[{arr, searchString},
  arr = {};
  searchStrings = columnsToGet; (* list of strings *)
  Do[
   If[
    StringContainsQ[data[[i, 1]], searchStrings], 
    AppendTo[arr, data[[i]]]
    ],
   {i, Length@data}
   ];
  arr
  ]

Answer 1

With lists as your input list of lists:

searchString="VAV11";

Select[StringContainsQ[searchString] @* First] @ lists

{{"/SEB/AHU1/VAV118/ZoneAirFlow.csv", 370., 372., 374., 372.}, 
 {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV118/ZoneTemperature.csv", 69.4, 69.6, 69.4, 69.4}, 
 {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV119/ZoneAirFlow.csv", 28., 26., 26., 32.}, 
 {"/SEB/AHU1/VAV119/ZoneTemperature.csv", 70.1, 70.2, 70.2, 70.2}} 

Alternatively, construct a Dataset from lists

ds = Dataset[Association[# -> {##2} & @@@ lists]]

and query using KeySelect:

KeySelect[StringContainsQ[searchString]] @ ds
(* ds[KeySelect[StringContainsQ[searchString]]] *)

Or create a dataset with named columns:

ds2 = Dataset[
 AssociationThread[{"cola", "colb", "colc", "cold", "cole"}, #] & /@ lists] 

ds2[Select[StringContainsQ[searchString]@#cola &]]