246

Just wondering, is there a way to add multiple conditions to a .includes method, for example:

    var value = str.includes("hello", "hi", "howdy");

Imagine the comma states "or".

It's asking now if the string contains hello, hi or howdy. So only if one, and only one of the conditions is true.

Is there a method of doing that?

6
  • 3
    or would imply that at least one match would be sufficient. Commented Jun 18, 2016 at 14:06
  • 5
    Instead of looking for the solution with includes method, you can try the indexOf like this : ['hello', 'hi', 'howdy'].indexOf(str) Commented May 21, 2020 at 15:03
  • 2
    @SkanderJenhani at least read and try before commenting. Your suggestion will always return -1 Commented Nov 19, 2020 at 21:00
  • 4
    what can be done for && ? Commented Nov 24, 2020 at 7:20
  • 2
    @arora see answer from @diningo but replace some with every Commented Mar 23, 2022 at 15:31

18 Answers 18

418

You can use the .some method referenced here.

The some() method tests whether at least one element in the array passes the test implemented by the provided function.

// test cases
const str1 = 'hi hello, how do you do?';
const str2 = 'regular string';
const str3 = 'hello there';

// do the test strings contain these terms?
const conditions = ["hello", "hi", "howdy"];

// run the tests against every element in the array
const test1 = conditions.some(el => str1.includes(el));
const test2 = conditions.some(el => str2.includes(el));
// strictly check that contains 1 and only one match
const test3 = conditions.reduce((a,c) => a + str3.includes(c), 0) == 1;

// display results
console.log(`Loose matching, 2 matches "${str1}" => ${test1}`);
console.log(`Loose matching, 0 matches "${str2}" => ${test2}`);
console.log(`Exact matching, 1 matches "${str3}" => ${test3}`);

Also, as a user mentions below, it is also interesting to match "exactly one" appearance like mentioned above (and requested by OP). This can be done similarly counting the intersections with .reduce and checking later that they're equal to 1.

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3 Comments

Point of note: some() is a method, not an operator. Otherwise, good answer.
Just to to highlight for anyone more distracted, the fact that, as is correctly bolded in the answer, this is good for when 'at least one element' is in the array but unfortunately it doesn't answer the question of the OP: 'only one of the conditions is true.'
You are right. Added extra condition to demonstrate how to reduce the array to check How many matches
80

With includes(), no, but you can achieve the same thing with REGEX via test():

var value = /hello|hi|howdy/.test(str);

Or, if the words are coming from a dynamic source:

var words = ['hello', 'hi', 'howdy'];
var value = new RegExp(words.join('|')).test(str);

The REGEX approach is a better idea because it allows you to match the words as actual words, not substrings of other words. You just need the word boundary marker \b, so:

var str = 'hilly';
var value = str.includes('hi'); //true, even though the word 'hi' isn't found
var value = /\bhi\b/.test(str); //false - 'hi' appears but not as its own word

7 Comments

This will not work if the words contain special regexp characters. Also, this won't satisfy the OP's apparent requirement it match only if there's a match with a single word.
Hey, Mitya, I wrote this popular answer but I happen to like more your solution. I've tryed a number of times to restrict the results to only one but can't bend regex to do it. (hello|hi|howdy){1} is not working. Any idea?
How do you mean exactly? If you want to match only one, not multiple, then surely the original includes() is what you need.
I can't seem to find a way to match "one and only one" of the purposed words with a single regex. Maybe you can 1st match and then count whether the num results == 1. Not sure
REGEX isn't the tool for stipulating how many of a whitelisted pool of options are found (or not). It deals with sequences, so you might struggle here.
|
47

You could also do something like this :

const str = "hi, there"

const res = str.includes("hello") || str.includes("hi") || str.includes('howdy');

console.log(res);

Whenever one of your includes return true, value will be true, otherwise, it's going to be false. This works perfectly fine with ES6.

3 Comments

OP said, "So only if one, and only one of the conditions is true." Your snippet will return true for a string that contains all three words, where OP would want it to return false.
Can this be written: const res = str.includes("hello"|| "hi" || "howdy"); ?
@kburgie, No it cannot
38

That should work even if one, and only one of the conditions is true :

var str = "bonjour le monde vive le javascript";
var arr = ['bonjour','europe', 'c++'];

function contains(target, pattern){
    var value = 0;
    pattern.forEach(function(word){
      value = value + target.includes(word);
    });
    return (value === 1)
}

console.log(contains(str, arr));

4 Comments

Just a note. Anyone trying this in Google Apps Script will get a TypeError: stackoverflow.com/questions/51291776/…
Use the indexOf('string') !== -1 instead of the includes to avoid this error
@Raphaël I'm sorry, I don't understand how to use your mentioned method. Could you provide a more elaborate code snippet?
value = value + (+!!target.includes(word)); fixed my problem. I found an answer here
8

That can be done by using some/every methods of Array and RegEx.

To check whether ALL of words from list(array) are present in the string:

const multiSearchAnd = (text, searchWords) => (
  searchWords.every((el) => {
    return text.match(new RegExp(el,"i"))
  })
)

multiSearchAnd("Chelsey Dietrich Engineer 2018-12-11 Hire", ["cle", "hire"]) //returns false
multiSearchAnd("Chelsey Dietrich Engineer 2018-12-11 Hire", ["che", "hire"]) //returns true

To check whether ANY of words from list(array) are present in the string:

const multiSearchOr = (text, searchWords) => (
  searchWords.some((el) => {
    return text.match(new RegExp(el,"i"))
  })
)

multiSearchOr("Chelsey Dietrich Engineer 2018-12-11 Hire", ["che", "hire"]) //returns true
multiSearchOr("Chelsey Dietrich Engineer 2018-12-11 Hire", ["aaa", "hire"]) //returns true
multiSearchOr("Chelsey Dietrich Engineer 2018-12-11 Hire", ["che", "zzzz"]) //returns true
multiSearchOr("Chelsey Dietrich Engineer 2018-12-11 Hire", ["aaa", "1111"]) //returns false

1 Comment

Wow. this answered both of my questions. Thank you sooo much!!!!
4

Here's a controversial option:

String.prototype.includesOneOf = function(arrayOfStrings) {
  if(!Array.isArray(arrayOfStrings)) {
    throw new Error('includesOneOf only accepts an array')
  }
  return arrayOfStrings.some(str => this.includes(str))
}

Allowing you to do things like:

'Hi, hope you like this option'.toLowerCase().includesOneOf(["hello", "hi", "howdy"]) // True

Comments

4

Not the best answer and not the cleanest, but I think it's more permissive.
Like if you want to use the same filters for all of your checks. Actually .filter() works with an array and returns a filtered array (which I find easier to use too).

var str1 = 'hi, how do you do?';
var str2 = 'regular string';
var conditions = ["hello", "hi", "howdy"];

// Solve the problem
var res1 = [str1].filter(data => data.includes(conditions[0]) || data.includes(conditions[1]) || data.includes(conditions[2]));
var res2 = [str2].filter(data => data.includes(conditions[0]) || data.includes(conditions[1]) || data.includes(conditions[2]));

console.log(res1); // ["hi, how do you do?"]
console.log(res2); // []


// More useful in this case
var text = [str1, str2, "hello world"];

// Apply some filters on data
var res3 = text.filter(data => data.includes(conditions[0]) && data.includes(conditions[2]));
// You may use again the same filters for a different check
var res4 = text.filter(data => data.includes(conditions[0]) || data.includes(conditions[1]));

console.log(res3); // []
console.log(res4); // ["hi, how do you do?", "hello world"]

Comments

2

it depends what context you're using it in. I used it on an object to check if any of the keys had an empty string or null as its value and it worked

Object.values(object).includes('' || null)

1 Comment

As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please edit to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.
1

Another one!

let result

const givenStr = 'A, X' //values separated by comma or space.

const allowed  = ['A', 'B']
const given    = givenStr.split(/[\s,]+/).filter(v => v)

console.log('given (array):', given)

// given contains none or only allowed values:

result = given.reduce((acc, val) => {
  return acc && allowed.includes(val)
}, true)

console.log('given contains none or only allowed values:', result)

// given contains at least one allowed value:

result = given.reduce((acc, val) => {
  return acc || allowed.includes(val)
}, false)

console.log('given contains at least one allowed value:', result)

Comments

1

Exact matching with array data/

const dataArray = ["amoos", "rifat", "hello"];

const findId = ( data, id ) => {
  let res = data.find(el => el === id )
  return res ? true : false;
}

console.log( findId( dataArray, 'Hi') ) // false
console.log( findId( dataArray, 'amoos') ) // true

Comments

0

const givenArray = ['Hi , how are you', 'how are you', 'howdy, how you doing']
const includeValues = ["hello", "hi", "howdy"]
const filteredStrArray = givenArray.filter(str => includeValues.some(value => str.toLowerCase().includes(value)))

console.log(filteredStrArray);

1 Comment

Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please edit to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.
0

Def an old thread but still getting newer replies. I didn't see it on the results and it's one of the easiest ways to use .includes to search for multiple things in a string at once. Depending on what you are trying to do with it just run a for loop that runs through an array of items you want to check a string for using .includes.

Const text = ' does this include item3? ';

For(i = 0; i < arr.length; i++)
{if (text.includes(arr[i])){/* do whatever */ } }

It will return true if any of those items are in that string and then you can have it do whatever.. execute a function, change a variable etc... You can also add what to do if it's false in the if statement as well.

It's worth noting though that it will execute that code for each item that is in the list that returns true so make sure you compensate for that in the code you want executed.

Edit- you could also convert this to a function set it up to pass arguments that are the multiple things you check to see if the string includes and just have it return true or false and you can do whatever with that information outside of the function.

Comments

0
string.match( /apple|banana/ ) // <-- Use Regex

Comments

0

maybe late but here is my solution for an array and two or more items /one|two/.test(['one', 'two', 'three', 'four'].join(' '))

console.log(/one|two/.test(['one', 'two', 'three', 'four'].join(' ')))

Comments

-1

Extending String native prototype:

if (!String.prototype.contains) {
    Object.defineProperty(String.prototype, 'contains', {
        value(patterns) {
            if (!Array.isArray(patterns)) {
                return false;
            }

            let value = 0;
            for (let i = 0; i < patterns.length; i++) {
                const pattern = patterns[i];
                value = value + this.includes(pattern);
            }
            return (value === 1);
        }
    });
}

Allowing you to do things like:

console.log('Hi, hope you like this option'.toLowerCase().contains(["hello", "hi", "howdy"])); // True

Comments

-1

1 Line solution:

String/Array.prototype.includes('hello' || 'hi' || 'howdy');

let words = 'cucumber, mercy, introduction, shot, howdy'
words.includes('hi' || 'howdy' || 'hello') // true
words.includes('hi' || 'hello') // false

1 Comment

Because 'hi' is not undefined or false, the code sample you have provided is checking if the words string includes hi therefore both words.includes(...) statements return false.
-3

You can do this

["hello", "hi", "howdy"].includes(str)

2 Comments

Unfortunately this will search whether the whole str is contained inside hello, hi or howdy. – I give you an upvote back, as I hate downvotes to honest efforts, without comments to explain what was wrong. Anyway I suggest you to delete the answer to not get further downvotes.
as @Kamafeather mentioned, this doesn't work
-5

How about ['hello', 'hi', 'howdy'].includes(str)?

1 Comment

No, it doesn't work: ['hello', 'hi', 'howdy'].includes('hello, how are you ?') returns false, whereas OP is asking for a solution that returns true.

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