Add new items to a Html selectbox

Question

Can I check for existing items in a html select box while adding them. A user types a text in a input box and then clicks button to add items. But I want to check for identical items before adding. Is there a efficient way to write this script?

Answer 1

Check if $('#dropdown option[value=' + newoption + ']') returns an option or not.

E.g.

if ($('#dropdown option[value=' + newoption + ']').length > 0) {
    // Option exist.
} else {
    // Option does not exist.
}

Answer 2

fix typo and shorten the logical check in js...

if ($("#dropdown option[value=' + newoption + ']").length) {
  // Option exist.
} else {
  // Option does not exist.
}