How can I check if a string is in an array without iterating over the elements?

Question

Is there a way of checking if a string exists in an array of strings - without iterating through the array?

For example, given the script below, how I can correctly impl

Answer 1

You can use an associative array since you're using Bash 4.

declare -A array=([hello]= [world]= [my]= [name]= [is]= [perseus]=)

test='henry'
if [[ ${array[$test]-X} == ${array[$test]} ]]
then
    do something
else
    something else
fi

The parameter expansion substitutes an "X" if the array element is unset (but doesn't if it's null). By doing that and checking to see if the result is different from the original value, we can tell if the key exists regardless of its value.