How to check string with array of strings in java?

Question

HI I want to check one string value with an array of strings. I am using the contains() method, but it is case sensitive. For example:

String str="one";
String [] items= {"ONE","TWO","THREE"};
str.contains(items); // it is returning false.

Now the question is how to check that string ?

can anyone help me?

thanks in advance

• Marnix: I don't think you can call str.contains(items), because String.contains needs a character array, not a String array.

Answer 1

You probably want to know if items contain str? And be case-insensitive. So loop through the array:

boolean contains = false;
for (String item : items) {
 if (str.equalsIgnoreCase(item)) {
 contains = true;
 break; // No need to look further.
 } 
}

Answer 2

you could sort the string first using stringArray=Arrays.sort(stringArray); you can then use the Binary Search algorithm int pos = Arrays.binarySearch(stringArray, stringItem);. if (pos > -1) then you found the element else the stringItem doesnot exist in the stringArray.

Answer 3

If you will only check once:

 String str="one"; String [] items= {"ONE","TWO","THREE"};
 for(String s : items){
 if(s.compareToIgnoreCase(str) == 0){
 System.out.println("match");
 }
 }

If you will do many checks:

 String str="one"; String [] items= {"ONE","TWO","THREE"};
 List<String> lowerItems = new ArrayList<String>();
 for(String s : items)
 lowerItems.add(s.toLowerCase());
 if(lowerItems.contains(str))
 System.out.println("match");