Introduction to JavaScript Array includes()
The JavaScript array includes() function helps us in getting if the array contains any specified element or not. This is an inbuilt function that helps in finding a particular element in the array. It returns a Boolean value which can be true or false depending on the result. The result is true if the element we are looking for is present in the array or else the result is false if the element we are looking for is not present in the array. It is a method that finds elements and provides results accordingly.
Syntax and Parameter
Let us have a look at the syntax of this function. It is represented as below in the syntactical format
array.includes(element, start)
Parameters
The parameters in this syntax include the below:
- element: This is the value that needs to be searched in the array.
- start: This is an optional parameter. It represents the index from where the search should start by the includes() method. The default value is 0 in this scenario.
- Return Value: The return value of this function is either true when the element is present or false when the element is not present in the array which is being searched.
How JavaScript Array includes() Method works?
To see how the array.includes() function works let us take an array A.
var A = [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ];
The Array has five elements as defined above. We can search to check if any element is present in this array.
checkInclude= A.includes(2);
Here in this statement a checkInclude variable is used. This variable is used to store the result of the include() method. It will check if the array contains for the integer 2. Here there is no start point mentioned. That means it will directly start looking for 2 in the array A. It traverses through the array and looks for the integer 2 in it. It finds 2 at index position 1. It will return the value true and this will be stored in the user-defined variable checkInclude.
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If the optional parameter with start position was mentioned then instead of traversing the entire array the method includes() would have started from that position. It will look for the number or element from the index position mentioned and traverse the array until the end. If the element is found then it will have to return true or the function will return false.
Examples to Implement JavaScript Array includes()
Below are the examples mentioned:
Example #1. Numeric array
Code:
<script>
var A = [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ];
a = A.includes(2)
document.write(a);
</script>
Output:
Explanation: The above script first creates an array. Once this array is created it makes use of the includes() method to check if 2 is there in the mentioned array. The second statement here serves this purpose. Post find the result we can print it and get it if it is true or false. True will signify that the mentioned element is present in the array and false will signify that it is not present in the array. The third statement work for this purpose.
If you check the above screenshot the result of the above code snippet is true as the includes() method finds 2 in the array. The result which is displayed is hence true.
Example #2. String Array
Code:
<script>
var animals = [ 'dog', 'rat', 'elephant', 'camel' ];
checkArray = name.includes('cat')
document.write(checkArray);
</script>
Output:
Explanation: The above code snippet makes use of a string array. Here we have an array created with the name ‘animals’. By making use of the includes() method we are checking if the array has ‘cat’ in the array. The second statement is storing the result of includes() in the checkArray variable. Once this result is stored in the mentioned variable you can display the result by making use of document.write(). The third statement helps us in displaying the result. Here the array does not consist of a cat. The result that is stored in the variable will be hence false.
The result in the above screenshot is false which is as expected.
Example #3. Optional parameter
Code:
<script>
var arr=["We","will","learn","JavaScript"]
var result=arr.includes("JavaScript",2);
document.writeln(result);
</script>
Output:
Explanation: The above snippet declares as an array that has string values. Here in the result variable, we will as usual store the result if it is present or not. Here in the includes() method, we have added the optional parameter. This is the start index from where we would like to start the search. In the above example, we have chosen the start position as 2. When we start at 2, we have ‘learn’ present at the beginning. The next word is JavaScript which is being searched. Hence the result for this query should be true. The third statement displays the result.
The above screenshot displays the result to be true which is as expected.
Example #4. Variation
Let us make a variation in this example. We will now change the word to be searched to ‘will’. The position remains the same as 2. Let us run and see the results of the below code.
Code:
<script>
var arr=["We","will","learn","JavaScript"]
var result=arr.includes("will",2);
document.writeln(result);
</script>
Output:
Explanation: The above script starts looking for the word ‘will’ in the array from position 2. Indexes start from 0 and hence the start position for search will be from the word ‘learn’. After the index 2 positions, there is no ‘will’ present. That means when it will start from index position 2 it will never find the word will, though it is present in the array. This will make the include function to return a false in the result.
The above screenshot here gives the result as false though ‘will’ is present in the array. As explained above due to start point this is the expected result.
Conclusion
The array.includes() method in JavaScript is used to find any element in the array. It may happen you want to search an array for a particular element and that array has many elements. This function hence comes to rescue and lets us know if it is present in the array or not. You can make use of this anywhere in the JavaScript code.
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