Contains method for a slice

Question

Is there anything similar to a slice.contains(object) method in Go without having to do a search through each element in a slice?

Answer 1

Mostafa has already pointed out that such a method is trivial to write, and mkb gave you a hint to use the binary search from the sort package. But if you are going to do a lot of such contains checks, you might also consider using a map instead.

It's trivial to check if a specific map key exists by using the value, ok := yourmap[key] idiom. Since you aren't interested in the value, you might also create a map[string]struct{} for example. Using an empty struct{} here has the advantage that it doesn't require any additional space and Go's internal map type is optimized for that kind of values. Therefore, map[string] struct{} is a popular choice for sets in the Go world.

Answer 2

No, such method does not exist, but is trivial to write:

func contains(s []int, e int) bool {
    for _, a := range s {
        if a == e {
            return true
        }
    }
    return false
}

You can use a map if that lookup is an important part of your code, but maps have cost too.

Answer 3

Starting with Go 1.18, you can use the slices package – specifically the generic Contains function: https://pkg.go.dev/golang.org/x/exp/slices#Contains.

go get golang.org/x/exp/slices

import  "golang.org/x/exp/slices"

things := []string{"foo", "bar", "baz"}
slices.Contains(things, "foo") // true

Note that since this is outside the stdlib as an experimental package, it is not bound to the Go 1 Compatibility Promise™ and may change before being formally added to the stdlib.

Answer 4

The sort package provides the building blocks if your slice is sorted or you are willing to sort it.

input := []string{"bird", "apple", "ocean", "fork", "anchor"}
sort.Strings(input)

fmt.Println(contains(input, "apple")) // true
fmt.Println(contains(input, "grow"))  // false

...

func contains(s []string, searchterm string) bool {
    i := sort.SearchStrings(s, searchterm)
    return i < len(s) && s[i] == searchterm
}

SearchString promises to return the index to insert x if x is not present (it could be len(a)), so a check of that reveals whether the string is contained the sorted slice.

Answer 5

With Go 1.18+ we could use generics.

func Contains[T comparable](s []T, e T) bool {
    for _, v := range s {
        if v == e {
            return true
        }
    }
    return false
}

Answer 6

Instead of using a slice, map may be a better solution.

simple example:

package main

import "fmt"


func contains(slice []string, item string) bool {
    set := make(map[string]struct{}, len(slice))
    for _, s := range slice {
        set[s] = struct{}{}
    }

    _, ok := set[item] 
    return ok
}

func main() {

    s := []string{"a", "b"}
    s1 := "a"
    fmt.Println(contains(s, s1))

}

http://play.golang.org/p/CEG6cu4JTf

Answer 7

If the slice is sorted, there is a binary search implemented in the sort package.

Answer 8

func Contain(target interface{}, list interface{}) (bool, int) {
    if reflect.TypeOf(list).Kind() == reflect.Slice || reflect.TypeOf(list).Kind() == reflect.Array {
        listvalue := reflect.ValueOf(list)
        for i := 0; i < listvalue.Len(); i++ {
            if target == listvalue.Index(i).Interface() {
                return true, i
            }
        }
    }
    if reflect.TypeOf(target).Kind() == reflect.String && reflect.TypeOf(list).Kind() == reflect.String {
        return strings.Contains(list.(string), target.(string)), strings.Index(list.(string), target.(string))
    }
    return false, -1
}

Answer 9

You can use the reflect package to iterate over an interface whose concrete type is a slice:

func HasElem(s interface{}, elem interface{}) bool {
    arrV := reflect.ValueOf(s)

    if arrV.Kind() == reflect.Slice {
        for i := 0; i < arrV.Len(); i++ {

            // XXX - panics if slice element points to an unexported struct field
            // see https://golang.org/pkg/reflect/#Value.Interface
            if arrV.Index(i).Interface() == elem {
                return true
            }
        }
    }

    return false
}

https://play.golang.org/p/jL5UD7yCNq

Answer 10

If it is not feasable to use a map for finding items based on a key, you can consider the goderive tool. Goderive generates a type specific implementation of a contains method, making your code both readable and efficient.

Example;

type Foo struct {
    Field1 string
    Field2 int
} 

func Test(m Foo) bool {
     var allItems []Foo
     return deriveContainsFoo(allItems, m)
}

To generate the deriveContainsFoo method:

• Install goderive with go get -u github.com/awalterschulze/goderive
• Run goderive ./... in your workspace folder

This method will be generated for deriveContains:

func deriveContainsFoo(list []Foo, item Foo) bool {
    for _, v := range list {
        if v == item {
            return true
        }
    }
    return false
}

Goderive has support for quite some other useful helper methods to apply a functional programming style in go.

Answer 11

Not sure generics are needed here. You just need a contract for your desired behavior. Doing the following is no more than what you would have to do in other languages if you wanted your own objects to behave themselves in collections, by overriding Equals() and GetHashCode() for instance.

type Identifiable interface{
    GetIdentity() string
}

func IsIdentical(this Identifiable, that Identifiable) bool{
    return (&this == &that) || (this.GetIdentity() == that.GetIdentity())
}

func contains(s []Identifiable, e Identifiable) bool {
    for _, a := range s {
        if IsIdentical(a,e) {
            return true
        }
    }
    return false
}

Answer 12

I think map[x]bool is more useful than map[x]struct{}.

Indexing the map for an item that isn't present will return false. so instead of _, ok := m[X], you can just say m[X].

This makes it easy to nest inclusion tests in expressions.