Determine whether an array contains a value

Question

I need to determine if a value exists in an array.

I am using the following function:

Array.prototype.contains = function(obj) {
    var i = this.length;
    while (i--) {
        if (this[i] == obj) {
            return true;
        }
    }
    return false;
}

The above function always returns false.

The array values and the function call is as below:

arrValues = ["Sam","Great", "Sample", "High"]
alert(arrValues.contains("Sam"));

Answer 1

jQuery has a utility function for this:

$.inArray(value, array)

Returns index of value in array. Returns -1 if array does not contain value.

See also How do I check if an array includes an object in JavaScript?

Answer 2

var contains = function(needle) {
    // Per spec, the way to identify NaN is that it is not equal to itself
    var findNaN = needle !== needle;
    var indexOf;

    if(!findNaN && typeof Array.prototype.indexOf === 'function') {
        indexOf = Array.prototype.indexOf;
    } else {
        indexOf = function(needle) {
            var i = -1, index = -1;

            for(i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
                var item = this[i];

                if((findNaN && item !== item) || item === needle) {
                    index = i;
                    break;
                }
            }

            return index;
        };
    }

    return indexOf.call(this, needle) > -1;
};

You can use it like this:

var myArray = [0,1,2],
    needle = 1,
    index = contains.call(myArray, needle); // true

CodePen validation/usage

Answer 3

This is generally what the indexOf() method is for. You would say:

return arrValues.indexOf('Sam') > -1

Answer 4

Array.prototype.includes()

In ES2016, there is Array.prototype.includes().

The includes() method determines whether an array includes a certain element, returning true or false as appropriate.

Example

["Sam", "Great", "Sample", "High"].includes("Sam"); // true

Support

According to kangax and MDN, the following platforms are supported:

• Chrome 47
• Edge 14
• Firefox 43
• Opera 34
• Safari 9
• Node 6

Support can be expanded using Babel (using babel-polyfill) or core-js. MDN also provides a polyfill:

if (![].includes) {
  Array.prototype.includes = function(searchElement /*, fromIndex*/ ) {
    'use strict';
    var O = Object(this);
    var len = parseInt(O.length) || 0;
    if (len === 0) {
      return false;
    }
    var n = parseInt(arguments[1]) || 0;
    var k;
    if (n >= 0) {
      k = n;
    } else {
      k = len + n;
      if (k < 0) {k = 0;}
    }
    var currentElement;
    while (k < len) {
      currentElement = O[k];
      if (searchElement === currentElement ||
         (searchElement !== searchElement && currentElement !== currentElement)) {
        return true;
      }
      k++;
    }
    return false;
  };
}

Answer 5

It's almost always safer to use a library like lodash simply because of all the issues with cross-browser compatibilities and efficiency.

Efficiency because you can be guaranteed that at any given time, a hugely popular library like underscore will have the most efficient method of accomplishing a utility function like this.

_.includes([1, 2, 3], 3); // returns true

If you're concerned about the bulk that's being added to your application by including the whole library, know that you can include functionality separately:

var includes = require('lodash/collections/includes');

---

NOTICE: With older versions of lodash, this was _.contains() rather than _.includes().

Answer 6

Since ECMAScript6, one can use Set:

var myArray = ['A', 'B', 'C'];
var mySet = new Set(myArray);
var hasB = mySet.has('B'); // true
var hasZ = mySet.has('Z'); // false

Answer 7

tl;dr

function includes(k) {
  for(var i=0; i < this.length; i++){
    if( this[i] === k || ( this[i] !== this[i] && k !== k ) ){
      return true;
    }
  }
  return false;
}

Example

function includes(k) {
  for(var i=0; i < this.length; i++){
    if( this[i] === k || ( this[i] !== this[i] && k !== k ) ){
      return true;
    }
  }
  return false;
}

function log(msg){
  $('#out').append('<div>' + msg + '</div>');  
}

var arr = [1, "2", NaN, true];
arr.includes = includes;

log('var arr = [1, "2", NaN, true];');
log('<br/>');
log('arr.includes(1): ' + arr.includes(1));
log('arr.includes(2): ' + arr.includes(2));
log('arr.includes("2"): ' + arr.includes("2"));
log('arr.includes(NaN): ' + arr.includes(NaN));
log('arr.includes(true): ' + arr.includes(true));
log('arr.includes(false): ' + arr.includes(false));

#out{
  font-family:monospace;
}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div id=out></div>

Longer Answer

I know this question isn't really about whether or not to extend built-in objects, but the attempt of the OP and the comments on this answer highlight that debate. My comment from Feb 12, '13 cites an article that outlines this debate really well, however that link broke and I can't edit the original comment because too much time has passed, so I include it here.

If you're looking to extend the built-in Array object with a contains method, probably the best and most responsible way to do this would be to use this polyfill from MDN. (See also this section of the MDN article on Prototypical inheritance, which explains that "The only good reason for extending a built-in prototype is to backport the features of newer JavaScript engines; for example Array.forEach, etc.")

if (!Array.prototype.includes) {
  Array.prototype.includes = function(searchElement /*, fromIndex*/ ) {
    'use strict';
    var O = Object(this);
    var len = parseInt(O.length) || 0;
    if (len === 0) {
      return false;
    }
    var n = parseInt(arguments[1]) || 0;
    var k;
    if (n >= 0) {
      k = n;
    } else {
      k = len + n;
      if (k < 0) {k = 0;}
    }
    var currentElement;
    while (k < len) {
      currentElement = O[k];
      if (searchElement === currentElement ||
         (searchElement !== searchElement && currentElement !== currentElement)) {
        return true;
      }
      k++;
    }
    return false;
  };
}

Don't want strict equality, or want to choose?

function includes(k, strict) {
  strict = strict !== false; // default is true
  // strict = !!strict; // default is false
  for(var i=0; i < this.length; i++){
    if( (this[i] === k && strict) || 
        (this[i] == k && !strict) ||
        (this[i] !== this[i] && k !== k)
    ) {
      return true;
    }
  }
  return false;
}

Answer 8

My little contribution:

function isInArray(array, search)
{
    return array.indexOf(search) >= 0;
}

//usage
if(isInArray(my_array, "my_value"))
{
    //...
}

Answer 9

If you have access to ECMA 5 you can use the some method.

MDN SOME Method Link

arrValues = ["Sam","Great", "Sample", "High"];

function namePresent(name){
  return name === this.toString();
}
// Note:
// namePresent requires .toString() method to coerce primitive value
// i.e. String {0: "S", 1: "a", 2: "m", length: 3, [[PrimitiveValue]]: "Sam"}
// into
// "Sam"

arrValues.some(namePresent, 'Sam');
=> true;

If you have access to ECMA 6 you can use the includes method.

MDN INCLUDES Method Link

arrValues = ["Sam","Great", "Sample", "High"];

arrValues.includes('Sam');
=> true;

Answer 10

Given the implementation of indexOf for IE (as described by eyelidlessness):

Array.prototype.contains = function(obj) {
    return this.indexOf(obj) > -1;
};

Answer 11

You can use _.indexOf method or if you don't want to include whole Underscore.js library in your app, you can have a look how they did it and extract necessary code.

    _.indexOf = function(array, item, isSorted) {
    if (array == null) return -1;
    var i = 0, l = array.length;
    if (isSorted) {
      if (typeof isSorted == 'number') {
        i = (isSorted < 0 ? Math.max(0, l + isSorted) : isSorted);
      } else {
        i = _.sortedIndex(array, item);
        return array[i] === item ? i : -1;
      }
    }
    if (nativeIndexOf && array.indexOf === nativeIndexOf) return array.indexOf(item, isSorted);
    for (; i < l; i++) if (array[i] === item) return i;
    return -1;
  };

Answer 12

Another option would be to use Array.some (if available) in the following way:

Array.prototype.contains = function(obj) {
  return this.some( function(e){ return e === obj } );
}

The anonymous function passed to Array.some will return true if and only if there is an element in the array that is identical to obj. Absent such an element, the function will not return true for any of the elements of the array, so Array.some will return false as well.

Answer 13

Wow, there are a lot of great answers to this question.

I didn't see one that takes a reduce approach so I'll add it in:

var searchForValue = 'pig';

var valueIsInArray = ['horse', 'cat', 'dog'].reduce(function(previous, current){
    return previous || searchForValue === current ? true : false;
}, false);

console.log('The value "' + searchForValue + '" is in the array: ' + valueIsInArray);

Here's a fiddle of it in action.

Answer 14

The answer provided didn't work for me, but it gave me an idea:

Array.prototype.contains = function(obj)
    {
        return (this.join(',')).indexOf(obj) > -1;
    }

It isn't perfect because items that are the same beyond the groupings could end up matching. Such as my example

var c=[];
var d=[];
function a()
{
    var e = '1';
    var f = '2';
    c[0] = ['1','1'];
    c[1] = ['2','2'];
    c[2] = ['3','3'];
    d[0] = [document.getElementById('g').value,document.getElementById('h').value];

    document.getElementById('i').value = c.join(',');
    document.getElementById('j').value = d.join(',');
    document.getElementById('b').value = c.contains(d);
}

When I call this function with the 'g' and 'h' fields containing 1 and 2 respectively, it still finds it because the resulting string from the join is: 1,1,2,2,3,3

Since it is doubtful in my situation that I will come across this type of situation, I'm using this. I thought I would share incase someone else couldn't make the chosen answer work either.

Answer 15

Using array .map function that executes a function for every value in an array seems cleanest to me.

Ref: Array.prototype.map()

This method can work well both for simple arrays and for arrays of objects where you need to see if a key/value exists in an array of objects.

function inArray(myArray,myValue){
    var inArray = false;
    myArray.map(function(key){
        if (key === myValue){
            inArray=true;
        }
    });
    return inArray;
};

var anArray = [2,4,6,8]
console.log(inArray(anArray, 8)); // returns true
console.log(inArray(anArray, 1)); // returns false

function inArrayOfObjects(myArray,myValue,objElement){
    var inArray = false;
    myArray.map(function(arrayObj){
        if (arrayObj[objElement] === myValue) {
            inArray=true;
        }
    });
    return inArray;
};

var objArray = [{id:4,value:'foo'},{id:5,value:'bar'}]
console.log(inArrayOfObjects(objArray, 4, 'id')); // returns true
console.log(inArrayOfObjects(objArray, 'bar', 'value')); // returns true
console.log(inArrayOfObjects(objArray, 1, 'id')); // returns false

Answer 16

function setFound(){   
 var l = arr.length, textBox1 = document.getElementById("text1");
    for(var i=0; i<l;i++)
    {
     if(arr[i]==searchele){
      textBox1 .value = "Found";
      return;
     }
    }
    textBox1 .value = "Not Found";
return;
}

This program checks whether the given element is found or not. Id text1 represents id of textbox and searchele represents element to be searched (got fron user); if you want index, use i value

Answer 17

The simplest solution for a contains function, would be a function that looks like this :

var contains = function (haystack, needle) {
    return !!~haystack.indexOf(needle);
}

Ideally, you wouldn't make this a stand-alone function, though, but part of a helper library :

var helper = {};

helper.array = {
    contains : function (haystack, needle) {
        return !!~haystack.indexOf(needle);
    }, 
    ...
};

Now, if you happen to be one of those unlucky people who still needs to support IE<9 and thus can't rely on indexOf, you could use this polyfill, which I got from the MDN :

if (!Array.prototype.indexOf) {
  Array.prototype.indexOf = function(searchElement, fromIndex) {
    var k;
    if (this == null) {
      throw new TypeError('"this" is null or not defined');
    }
    var o = Object(this);
    var len = o.length >>> 0;
    if (len === 0) {
      return -1;
    }
    var n = +fromIndex || 0;

    if (Math.abs(n) === Infinity) {
      n = 0;
    }
    if (n >= len) {
      return -1;
    }
    k = Math.max(n >= 0 ? n : len - Math.abs(n), 0);
    while (k < len) {
      if (k in o && o[k] === searchElement) {
        return k;
      }
      k++;
    }
    return -1;
  };
}

Answer 18

I prefer simplicity:

var days = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
if ( 2 in days ) {console.log('weekday');}