How do I determine whether an array contains a particular value in Java?

Question

I have a String[] with values like so:

public static final String[] VALUES = new String[] {"AB","BC","CD","AE"};

Given String s, is there a good way of testing whether VALUES contains s?

Long way around it, but you can use a for loop: "for (String s : VALUES) if (s.equals("MYVALUE")) return true; — Zack
– Zack, Commented Jul 15, 2009 at 0:51
@camickr--I have a nearly identical situation with this one: stackoverflow.com/a/223929/12943 It just keeps getting votes yet was just a copy/paste from sun's documentation. I guess score is based on how much help you provided and not how much effort you put into it--and mostly how fast you post it! Maybe we've stumbled onto John Skeet's secret! Well good answer, +1 for you. — Bill K
– Bill K, Commented Apr 29, 2013 at 6:50
If you're using Apache Commons, then org.apache.commons.lang.ArrayUtils.contains() does this for you. — Mr. Boy
– Mr. Boy, Commented Nov 12, 2013 at 21:05
@camickr because people, like me, google a question, click on the SO result, see your answer, test it, it works, upvote the answer and then leave. — Aequitas
– Aequitas, Commented Jul 20, 2015 at 2:41
I really miss a simple indexOf and contains in java.util.Arrays - which would both contain straightforward loops. Yes, you can write those in 1 minute; but I still went over to StackOverflow expecting to find them somewhere in the JDK. — tucuxi
– tucuxi, Commented May 1, 2020 at 10:38

Ramkumar SP · Accepted Answer · 2023-10-29 16:14:45Z

0

Arrays.stream(VALUES).anyMatch(value -> StringUtils.equalsIgnoreCase("s", value));

answered Oct 29, 2023 at 16:14

Ramkumar SP

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WhatdoesITmatter · Accepted Answer · 2025-08-22 14:58:48Z

You can implement a simple search along with a status value.

Here String s is your search value. I have hardcoded here but you can take it as a user input also.

String[] VALUES = new String[] {"AB","BC","CD","AE"}; String s="ABC"; boolean status =false; for(int i=0;i<VALUES.length;i++) { if(VALUES[i].equals(s)) { System.out.println("Element Found"); status=true; break; } } if(status==false) System.out.println("Element Not Found"); }

Community · Accepted Answer · 2021-06-01 20:51:27Z

You can check it by two methods

A) By converting the array into string and then check the required string by .contains method

String a = Arrays.toString(VALUES); System.out.println(a.contains("AB")); System.out.println(a.contains("BC")); System.out.println(a.contains("CD")); System.out.println(a.contains("AE"));

B) This is a more efficent method

Scanner s = new Scanner(System.in); String u = s.next(); boolean d = true; for (int i = 0; i < VAL.length; i++) { if (VAL[i].equals(u) == d) System.out.println(VAL[i] + " " + u + VAL[i].equals(u)); }

The string conversion is absurdly inefficient and the solution is incorrect, e.g. contains(",") will return true.

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