# Extension suggestion: Array\<T\>.contains

**URL:** <https://discuss.kotlinlang.org/t/extension-suggestion-array-t-contains/931>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [January 26, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://discuss.kotlinlang.org/t/extension-suggestion-array-t-contains/931 "2013-01-26T15:37:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tomsk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Tomsk](https://discuss.kotlinlang.org/u/Tomsk)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://discuss.kotlinlang.org/t/extension-suggestion-array-t-contains/931/1 "2013-01-26T15:37:38Z")

</div>

There doesn't seem to be a 'contains' method on Array. It would seem to be a sensible method to have as there is a similar method for List.

You can of course use

```kotlin
array.count { it == item } != 0
```

But it is kind of awkward. Therefore a contains method would be useful:

```kotlin
fun <T> Array<T>.contains(item: T): Boolean {
    for (a in this) {
        if (a == item) {
           return true
        }
    }
    return false
}
```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dodyg](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.kotlinlang.org/dodyg/32/1451_2.png) [@dodyg](https://discuss.kotlinlang.org/u/dodyg)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://discuss.kotlinlang.org/t/extension-suggestion-array-t-contains/931/2 "2013-01-26T17:05:31Z")

</div>

```kotlin
array.any { it == item }
```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tomsk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Tomsk](https://discuss.kotlinlang.org/u/Tomsk)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 6:09pm UTC](https://discuss.kotlinlang.org/t/extension-suggestion-array-t-contains/931/3 "2013-01-26T18:09:31Z")

</div>

true enough, although contains still seems good since List and ArrayList has it :-)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![abreslav](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.kotlinlang.org/abreslav/32/8279_2.png) [@abreslav](https://discuss.kotlinlang.org/u/abreslav)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 11:11am UTC](https://discuss.kotlinlang.org/t/extension-suggestion-array-t-contains/931/4 "2013-01-28T11:11:10Z")

</div>

Feel free to file a request into the issue tracker