What would be the best way to look in a string[] to see if it contains a element. This was my first shot at it. But perhaps there is something that I am overlooking. The array size will be no larger than 200 elements.
bool isStringInArray(string[] strArray, string key)
{
for (int i = 0; i <= strArray.Length - 1; i++)
if (strArray[i] == key)
return true;
return false;
}
Just use the already built-in Contains() method:
using System.Linq;
//...
string[] array = { "foo", "bar" };
if (array.Contains("foo")) {
//...
}
You're simply after the Array.Exists function (or the Contains extension method if you're using .NET 3.5, which is slightly more convenient).
Linq (for s&g's):
var test = "This is the string I'm looking for";
var found = strArray.Any(x=>x == test);
or, depending on requirements
var found = strArray.Any(
x=>x.Equals(test, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase));
Is the array sorted? If so you could do a binary search. Here is the .NET implementation as well. If the array is sorted then a binary search will improve performance over any iterative solution.
Arrays are, in general, a poor data structure to use if you want to ask if a particular object is in the collection or not.
If you'll be running this search frequently, it might be worth it to use a Dictionary<string, something> rather than an array. Lookups in a Dictionary are O(1) (constant-time), while searching through the array is O(N) (takes time proportional to the length of the array).
Even if the array is only 200 items at most, if you do a lot of these searches, the Dictionary will likely be faster.
You can also use LINQ to iterate over the array. or you can use the Find method which takes a delegate to search for it. However I think the find method is a bit more expensive then just looping through.
This is quicker than iterating through the array manually:
static bool isStringInArray(string[] strArray, string key)
{
if (strArray.Contains(key))
return true;
return false;
}