Comparing a string to a part of string inside an arraylist

Question

The title may be a little confusing or misleading but I'm trying to compare a single string:

String mystring = "abc";

And then try to compare it with every single string contained in an arraylist

ArrayList<String> array = new ArrayList<String>();
array.add("The first letters of the alphabet are abc");
array.add("abc");
array.add("Alphabet");
array.add("Nothing");

But (and I'm not certain) it seems that contains is true only if both strings matches and not if the word or phrase is inside the string.

How can I compare a desired string to a "phrase" that is within an ArrayList of strings?

As long as it's case sensitive, you could loop through the array and use .contains(mystring); — AntonH
– AntonH, Commented Apr 28, 2014 at 20:31
@LuiggiMendoza I didn't want to because he doesn't specify if it needs to be case insensitive, in which case my answer would be incorrect. — AntonH
– AntonH, Commented Apr 28, 2014 at 20:34
@AntonH you could add another section in your answer about how to solve this probably by using a third party library like StringUtils#containsIgnoreCase from Apache Commons Lang. — Luiggi Mendoza
– Luiggi Mendoza, Commented Apr 28, 2014 at 20:37
@LuiggiMendoza I keep forgetting about the Apache Commons. Thanks for the reminder. — AntonH
– AntonH, Commented Apr 28, 2014 at 20:46

AntonH · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-28 20:49:54Z

To check what you're asking for, you would have to iterate through the values that are contained in the array, and check whether they contain the value of the string that you want to check.

for (String fromArray : array) {
    if (fromArray.contains(mystring)) {
        // put your code here
    }
}

This method is case sensitive. To overcome this, you can either change the strings to lowercase (with the toLowerCase() method), or use a library that has been designed to do so. One such library is the Apache Commons library.

http://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-lang/javadocs/api-release/org/apache/commons/lang3/StringUtils.html#containsIgnoreCase%28java.lang.CharSequence,%20java.lang.CharSequence%29

If you want to check whether the array element, instead of containing, instead matches the string you want to check it against, you would use the matches() method.

Documentation links:

http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/String.html

Apache commons StringUtils

Manoj · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-29 10:42:01Z

1

try this

// check if string is exist in array
if(array.Contains("YourString"))
{
// if contain then u can use this or do operations
Response.Write("YourString is available in array");
}

this will help you

answered Apr 29, 2014 at 10:42

Manoj

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Comments

score 0 · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-28 20:47:20Z

0

It's simple.

You use an Iterator over the ArrayList.

for(String s: array):
  if(s.toLowerCase().contains(myString.toLowerCase())) { //find if such a substring exits within each string
      //do something
    }
}

If however you don't want to check case sensitive-ness you get remove the toLowerCase() from the lines.

I hope you are aware of what toLowerCase() does and putting it in the code doesn't makes a difference for you.

edited Apr 28, 2014 at 20:47

answered Apr 28, 2014 at 20:33

user2031271

Comments

Gautam · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-28 20:32:29Z

-1

You need iterate through all the elements of Array List and then need to check using contains() method

for (String str : array){
            if(str.contains(mystring)){
                System.out.println(str + " Conatins" + mystring);
            }
        }

answered Apr 28, 2014 at 20:32

Gautam

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