In Java, how can I determine if a char array contains a particular character?

Question

Here's what I have:

char[] charArray = new char[] {'h','e','l','l','o'};

I want to write something to the effect of:

if(!charArray contains 'q'){
     break;
}

I realize that .contains() can't be used here. I am just using "contains" to illustrate what I'm trying to do.

Answer 1

The following snippets test for the "not contains" condition, as exemplified in the sample pseudocode in the question. For a direct solution with explicit looping, do this:

boolean contains = false;
for (char c : charArray) {
    if (c == 'q') {
        contains = true;
        break;
    }
}
if (!contains) {
    // do something
}

Another alternative, using the fact that String provides a contains() method:

if (!(new String(charArray).contains("q"))) {
    // do something
}

Yet another option, this time using indexOf():

if (new String(charArray).indexOf('q') == -1) {
    // do something
}

Answer 2

This method does the trick.

boolean contains(char c, char[] array) {
    for (char x : array) {
        if (x == c) {
            return true;
        }
    }
    return false;
}

---

Example of usage:

class Main {

    static boolean contains(char c, char[] array) {
        for (char x : array) {
            if (x == c) {
                return true;
            }
        }
        return false;
    }

    public static void main(String[] a) {
        char[] charArray = new char[] {'h','e','l','l','o'};
        if (!contains('q', charArray)) {
            // Do something...
            System.out.println("Hello world!");
        }
    }

}

---

Alternative way:

if (!String.valueOf(charArray).contains("q")) {
    // do something...
}