How to check if an array includes a value in JavaScript?

Here's a Code Recipe to check if a #JavaScript array contains a value. You can use the new array includes method 😋 For older browsers and IE, you can use indexOf 👍

const array = ['🥗', '🍔', '🍰'];

// Modern Browser
array.includes('🍰'); // true

// Older Browser
array.indexOf('🍰') !== -1; // true

includes with other primitive types

Besides strings, includes also works great with other primitive types.

const symbol = Symbol('symbol');

const array = [
  'string',
  200,
  0,
  undefined,
  null,
  symbol
];

Using includes

array.includes('string'); // true
array.includes(200); // true
array.includes(0); // true
array.includes(undefined); // true
array.includes(null); // true
array.includes(symbol); // true

Using indexOf

array.indexOf('string') !== -1; // true
array.indexOf(200) !== -1; // true
array.indexOf(0) !== -1; // true
array.indexOf(undefined) !== -1; // true
array.indexOf(null) !== -1; // true
array.indexOf(symbol) !== -1; // true

Caveats of indexOf

So far, I have show you values where both includes and indexOf work interchangeably. However there is one value, where they differ 🤭

const array = [NaN];

// ✅
array.includes(NaN); // true

// 😱
array.indexOf(NaN) !== -1; // false

Checking for Array of Objects using some()

For a more versatile solution that works on other data types, you may want to use some instead.

".some()": tests whether at least one element in the array passes the test implemented by the provided function. It returns a Boolean value.

const array = ['🥗', '🍔', '🍰'];

array.some(food => food === '🍰'); // true

This method is ideal for array of objects.

const array = [{ name: 'js' }, { name: 'css' }];

array.some(code => code.name === 'js'); // true
array.some(code => code.name === '🤖'); // false

In a previous code note, I talked about a quick & dirty way to check objects using JSON.stringify().

How to Compare 2 Objects in JavaScript

Taking that concept, we can also use it to compare object element in an array like this:

const array = [{ name: 'js' }, { name: 'css' }];

array.some(code => JSON.stringify(code) === JSON.stringify({ name: 'css' }));
// true

Case Sensitive

Both includes and indexOf are case sensitive:

const array = ['SAMANTHA'];

array.includes('samantha'); // false
array.indexOf('samantha') !== -1; // false

To make it case insensitive, you could consider changing the case of the array like so:

const array = ['SAMANTHA'];

const sameCaseArray = array.map(value => value.toLowerCase());
// ['samantha']

sameCaseArray.includes('samantha'); // true
sameCaseArray.indexOf('samantha') !== -1; // true

But if you were using some, you can do it in one line:

const array = ['SAMANTHA'];

array.some(value => value.toLowerCase() === 'samantha'); // true

Browser Support

Support for includes is really good for all modern browsers. However, if you need IE or older browser, you will need to use indexOf.

Can I use? Array.prototype.includes

Community Input

• @lolinoid: contains > @prvnbist That's a method DOM Nodes, most known example for it would be getting a list of classnames which will be a node list then you can use contain method to see if it has a classname. Or you can convert it to an array and then use includes method

• You can use the in operator to loop over an object to check if a specific property key exists. (Knowledge shared by @fvbix)
  

const object = { kiwi: '🥝', pear: '🍐', cheese: '🧀' },;

'kiwi' in object; // true

// Use it as a conditional
if ('kiwi' in object) {
  // do something if property key exists
}

• [@pixelfixer](https://twitter.com/pixelfixer/status/1234011311006191617?s=21):_ And if you want the value returned, you can use Array.find()

• Performance test > array indexOf vs includes. Thanks @equiman:

Resources

• MDN Web Docs: includes
• MDN Web Docs: indexOf
• Stack Overflow: How do I check if an array includes a value in JavaScript?
• MDN Web Docs: some
• w3schools: contains
• MDN Web Docs: in operator
• Originally published at www.samanthaming.com

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Comments

[Samantha Ming]

Oh cool! So if it finds something, it returns the opposite of it (akin to a “not” operator), right? — Bitwise operators still confuses me, I should really look into it 😅

[Samantha Ming]

Thanks for the explanation on this! I'll add this to my notes 👍

Although your 2nd paragraph still confuses me. Don't worry. It's more me being very foreign to bitwise 😣. You seem to have a great grasp on this topic, do you have any resource recommendation you found help on this? (I'd love to dig more into this 🙂)

[Samantha Ming]

sweet! thanks for the recommendation, will also add this to my code notes for folks who are also interested in this topic 💯

[Martin Adams]

I have this books.Tomasz Sterna and Your sharing are great!