Check if a Bash array contains a value

Question

In Bash, what is the simplest way to test if an array contains a certain value?

Answer 1

This is working for me:

# traditional system call return values-- used in an `if`, this will be true when returning 0. Very Odd.
contains () {
    # odd syntax here for passing array parameters: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8082947/how-to-pass-an-array-to-a-bash-function
    local list=$1[@]
    local elem=$2

    # echo "list" ${!list}
    # echo "elem" $elem

    for i in "${!list}"
    do
        # echo "Checking to see if" "$i" "is the same as" "${elem}"
        if [ "$i" == "${elem}" ] ; then
            # echo "$i" "was the same as" "${elem}"
            return 0
        fi
    done

    # echo "Could not find element"
    return 1
}

Example call:

arr=("abc" "xyz" "123")
if contains arr "abcx"; then
    echo "Yes"
else
    echo "No"
fi