JS jQuery - check if value is in array

Question

I am more of a PHP person, not JS - and I think my problem is more a syntax problem ..

I have a small jQuery to \"validate\" and check input value .

It works ok

Answer 1

You are comparing a jQuery object (jQuery('input:first')) to strings (the elements of the array).
Change the code in order to compare the input's value (wich is a string) to the array elements:

if (jQuery.inArray(jQuery("input:first").val(), ar) != -1)

The inArray method returns -1 if the element wasn't found in the array, so as your bonus answer to how to determine if an element is not in an array, use this :

if(jQuery.inArray(el,arr) == -1){
    // the element is not in the array
};