Fastest way to compare a string with an array of strings in C#2.0

Question

What is the fastest way to compare a string with an array of strings in C#2.0

Answer 1

If you are doing this many times with a single array, you should sort the array and binary search it:

Array.Sort(array);
int index = Array.BinarySearch(array, input);
// if (index < 0) 
//      does not exists, "items > ~index" are larger and "< ~index" are smaller
// otherwise, "items > index" are larger and "< index" are smaller.

Otherwise just check the whole array naively:

bool exists = Array.IndexOf(array, input) >= 0;