Find if a String is present in an array

Question

OK let's say I have an array filled with {"tube", "are", "fun"} and then I have a JTextField and if I type either one of those commands to do something and if NOT to get like a message saying "Command not found".

I tried looking in Java docs but all I am getting is things that I don't want like questions and stuff... so, how is this done? I know there is a "in array" function but I'm not too good with combining the two together.

Thanks.

Here is what I have so far:

String[] dan = {"Red", "Orange", "Yellow", "Green", "Blue", "Violet", "Orange", "Blue"};
boolean contains = dan.contains(say.getText());

but I am getting cannot find symbol in dan.contains

Answer 1

This is what you're looking for:

List<String> dan = Arrays.asList("Red", "Orange", "Yellow", "Green", "Blue", "Violet", "Orange", "Blue");

boolean contains = dan.contains(say.getText());

If you have a list of not repeated values, prefer using a Set<String> which has the same contains method

Answer 2

If you can organize the values in the array in sorted order, then you can use Arrays.binarySearch(). Otherwise you'll have to write a loop and to a linear search. If you plan to have a large (more than a few dozen) strings in the array, consider using a Set instead.

Answer 3

String[] a= {"tube", "are", "fun"};
Arrays.asList(a).contains("any");

Answer 4

Use Arrays.asList() to wrap the array in a List<String>, which does have a contains() method:

Arrays.asList(dan).contains(say.getText())