Modern browsers have Array#includes, which does exactly that and is widely supported by everyone except IE:
console.log(['joe', 'jane', 'mary'].includes('jane')); // true
You can also use Array#indexOf, which is less direct, but doesn't require polyfills for outdated browsers.
console.log(['joe', 'jane', 'mary'].indexOf('jane') >= 0); // true
Many frameworks also offer similar methods:
- jQuery:
$.inArray(value, array, [fromIndex]) - Underscore.js:
_.contains(array, value)(also aliased as_.includeand_.includes) - Dojo Toolkit:
dojo.indexOf(array, value, [fromIndex, findLast]) - Prototype:
array.indexOf(value) - MooTools:
array.indexOf(value) - MochiKit:
findValue(array, value) - MS Ajax:
array.indexOf(value) - Ext:
Ext.Array.contains(array, value) - Lodash:
_.includes(array, value, [from])(is_.containsprior 4.0.0) - Ramda:
R.includes(value, array)
Notice that some frameworks implement this as a function, while others add the function to the array prototype.
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Modern browsers have Array#includes, which does exactly that and is widely supported by everyone except IE:
console.log(['joe', 'jane', 'mary'].includes('jane')); // true
You can also use Array#indexOf, which is less direct, but doesn't require polyfills for outdated browsers.
console.log(['joe', 'jane', 'mary'].indexOf('jane') >= 0); // true
Many frameworks also offer similar methods:
- jQuery:
$.inArray(value, array, [fromIndex]) - Underscore.js:
_.contains(array, value)(also aliased as_.includeand_.includes) - Dojo Toolkit:
dojo.indexOf(array, value, [fromIndex, findLast]) - Prototype:
array.indexOf(value) - MooTools:
array.indexOf(value) - MochiKit:
findValue(array, value) - MS Ajax:
array.indexOf(value) - Ext:
Ext.Array.contains(array, value) - Lodash:
_.includes(array, value, [from])(is_.containsprior 4.0.0) - Ramda:
R.includes(value, array)
Notice that some frameworks implement this as a function, while others add the function to the array prototype.
Update from 2019: This answer is from 2008 (11 years old!) and is not relevant for modern JS usage. The promised performance improvement was based on a benchmark done in browsers of that time. It might not be relevant to modern JS execution contexts. If you need an easy solution, look for other answers. If you need the best performance, benchmark for yourself in the relevant execution environments.
As others have said, the iteration through the array is probably the best way, but it has been proven that a decreasing while loop is the fastest way to iterate in JavaScript. So you may want to rewrite your code as follows:
function contains(a, obj) {
var i = a.length;
while (i--) {
if (a[i] === obj) {
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
Of course, you may as well extend Array prototype:
Array.prototype.contains = function(obj) {
var i = this.length;
while (i--) {
if (this[i] === obj) {
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
And now you can simply use the following:
alert([1, 2, 3].contains(2)); // => true
alert([1, 2, 3].contains('2')); // => false
There isn't any need to reinvent the wheel loop, at least not explicitly.
Use some as it allows the browser to stop as soon as one element is found that matches:
if (vendors.some(e => e.Name === 'Magenic')) {
// We found at least one object that we're looking for!
}
or the equivalent (in this case) with find, which returns the found object instead of a boolean:
if (vendors.find(e => e.Name === 'Magenic')) {
// Usually the same result as above, but find returns the element itself
}
If you'd like to get the position of that element, use findIndex:
const i = vendors.findIndex(e => e.Name === 'Magenic');
if (i > -1) {
// We know that at least 1 object that matches has been found at the index i
}
If you need to get all of the objects that match:
if (vendors.filter(e => e.Name === 'Magenic').length > 0) {
// The same result as above, but filter returns all objects that match
}
If you need compatibility with really old browsers that don't support arrow functions, then your best bet is:
if (vendors.filter(function(e) { return e.Name === 'Magenic'; }).length > 0) {
// The same result as above, but filter returns all objects that match and we avoid an arrow function for compatibility
}
2018 edit: This answer is from 2011, before browsers had widely supported array filtering methods and arrow functions. Have a look at CAFxX's answer.
There is no "magic" way to check for something in an array without a loop. Even if you use some function, the function itself will use a loop. What you can do is break out of the loop as soon as you find what you're looking for to minimize computational time.
var found = false;
for(var i = 0; i < vendors.length; i++) {
if (vendors[i].Name == 'Magenic') {
found = true;
break;
}
}
Instead of using an API that is currently marked as "experimental" consider using a more broadly supported method, such as Array.prototype.indexOf() (which is also supported by IE).
Instead of t.title.includes(string) you could use t.title.indexOf(string) >= 0
You can also use Array.prototype.filter() to get a new array of strings that meet a certain criteria, as in the example below.
var arr = ["one", "two", "three", "four", "five", "six", "seven", "eight", "nine", "ten"];
document.getElementById("input").onkeyup = function() {
document.getElementById("output").innerHTML = arrayContainsString(arr,this.value);
}
document.getElementById("header").innerHTML = JSON.stringify(arr);
function arrayContainsString(array, string) {
var newArr = array.filter(function(el) {
return el.indexOf(string) >= 0;
});
return newArr.length > 0;
}
<input id="input" type="text" />
<br/>
<div>array contains text:<span id="output" />
</div>
<div id="header"></div>
As the MDN article you linked to says, Firefox only supports .includes in nightly builds, other browsers didn't support it at all at the time the article was last updated (Chrome may have been updated to support it at a later time). If you want to support all browsers, you can use the polyfill outlined in the same article:
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;
};
}
However, it sounds like your problem has a better solution, but it's hard to tell without any specifics.
Array.includes compares by object identity just like obj === obj2, so sadly this doesn't work unless the two items are references to the same object. You can often use Array.prototype.some() instead which takes a function:
const arr = [{a: 'b'}]
console.log(arr.some(item => item.a === 'b'))
But of course you then need to write a small function that defines what you mean by equality.
Its' because both of the objects are not the same. Both are stored at different place in memory and the equality operation results false.
But if you search for the same object, then it will return true.

Also, have a look at the below code, where you can understand that two identical objects also results false with the === operator.
For two objects to return true in ===, they should be pointing to same memory location.
