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

In most cases, the following would work. Certainly it has restrictions and limitations, but easy to read and understand.

if [ "$(echo " ${array[@]} " | grep " $test ")" == "" ]; then
    echo notFound
else
    echo found
fi