Determine whether an array contains a value

Question

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"));

Prasad

2015/07/01

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;
  };
}

Dale

2017/09/24

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().

ncabral

2017/11/04

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

Nicolas

2017/10/13

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;
}

Trevor

2016/04/15

eyelidlessness · Accepted Answer · 1/5/2016 2:46:56 AM

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