A pure-bash membership test using `=~` or by iterating. Both are useful — pick by readability vs. speed.
Bash
arr=("alice" "bob" "carol")
target="bob"
# Method 1: explicit loop (clearest)
contains() {
local needle="$1"; shift
for x in "$@"; do
[[ "$x" == "$needle" ]] && return 0
done
return 1
}
if contains "$target" "${arr[@]}"; then
echo "yes"
fi
# Method 2: glue + regex (concise but tricky with separators)
[[ " ${arr[*]} " =~ " $target " ]] && echo "yes (regex)"Save your own code snippets
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