Check if a variable exists in a list in Bash

Question

I am trying to write a script in bash that check the validity of a user input.
I want to match the input (say variable x) to a list of valid values.

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Answer 1

If it isn't too long; you can just string them between equality along a logical OR comparison like so.

if [ $ITEM == "item1" -o $ITEM == "item2" -o $ITEM == "item3" ]; then
    echo In the list
fi 

I had this exact problem and while the above is ugly it is more obvious what is going on than the other generalized solutions.