How can I quickly determine if a string exists within an array?

One way to determine if an array contains an element is to use a simple 'For ... Next' loop to iterate through each element of the array, checking to see if the element is equal to a particular string. For example:

Dim iLoop, bolFound
bolFound = Fals

For iLoop = LBound(SomeArray) to UBound(SomeArray)
If CStr(SomeArray(iLoop)) = CStr(SomeString) then
bolFound = True
End If
Next

When this code completes, bolFound will be True if SomeString is found in SomeArray, and False if not found. This code performs a case-sensitive comparison, however. So, if you are searching for "FooBar" and the array contains an element equal to "Foobar," the bolFound will be False.

We can create a code to determine the position of a particular string element in an array by using the PositionInArray function:

Function ElementInArray(aMyArray, strLookingFor, compare)
'Returns True if strLookingFor is in aMyArray, False otherwise
ElementInArray = (PositionInArray(aMyArray, strLookingFor, compare) > -1)
End Functio

We can also use the Filter function to accomplish a similar task.

Function ElementInArray(aMyArray, strLookingFor, compare)
'Returns True if strLookingFor is in aMyArray, False otherwise
ElementInArray = (UBound(Filter(aMyArray, strLookingFor, True, compare)) > -1)
End Functio

These three techniques will help you to quickly determine if a particular string exists in an array.