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javascriptjqueryarraysstring

How to find if an array contains a specific string in JavaScript/jQuery?


Can someone tell me how to detect if "specialword" appears in an array? Example:

categories: [
    "specialword"
    "word1"
    "word2"
]

Solution

  • You really don't need jQuery for this.

    var myarr = ["I", "like", "turtles"];
    var arraycontainsturtles = (myarr.indexOf("turtles") > -1);
    

    Hint: indexOf returns a number, representing the position where the specified searchvalue occurs for the first time, or -1 if it never occurs

    or

    function arrayContains(needle, arrhaystack)
    {
        return (arrhaystack.indexOf(needle) > -1);
    }
    

    It's worth noting that array.indexOf(..) is not supported in IE < 9, but jQuery's indexOf(...) function will work even for those older versions.