perldoc -q element

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How can I tell whether a certain element is contained in a list or array?

Hearing the word "in" is an *in*dication that you probably should have used a hash, not a list or array, to store your data. Hashes are designed to answer this question quickly and efficiently. Arrays aren't.

That being said, there are several ways to approach this. If you are going to make this query many times over arbitrary string values, the fastest way is probably to invert the original array and maintain a hash whose keys are the first array's values. 

        @blues = qw/azure cerulean teal turquoise lapis-lazuli/;
        %is_blue = ();
        for (@blues) { $is_blue{$_} = 1 }

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Now you can check whether $is_blue{$some_color}. It might have been a good idea to keep the blues all in a hash in the first place.

Update: misread the question, sorry

 

In reply to Re: regex match in array by EdwardG
in thread regex match in array by rsiedl

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