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

If you want to do a quick and dirty test to see if it's worth iterating over the whole array to get a precise match, Bash can treat arrays like scalars. Test for a match in the scalar, if none then skipping the loop saves time. Obviously you can get false positives.

array=(word "two words" words)
if [[ ${array[@]} =~ words ]]
then
    echo "Checking"
    for element in "${array[@]}"
    do
        if [[ $element == "words" ]]
        then
            echo "Match"
        fi
    done
fi

This will output "Checking" and "Match". With array=(word "two words" something) it will only output "Checking". With array=(word "two widgets" something) there will be no output.