How to Check whether Element Exists in Java ArrayList?

Last Updated : 04 Dec, 2020

Java ArrayList is a resizable array, which can be found in java.util package. We can add or delete elements from an ArrayList whenever we want, unlike a built-in array.

We can check whether an element exists in ArrayList in java in two ways:

Using contains() method
Using indexOf() method

Method 1: Using contains() method

The contains() method of the java.util.ArrayList class can be used to check whether an element exists in Java ArrayList.

Syntax:

public boolean contains(Object)

Parameter:

object – element whose presence in this list is to be tested

Returns: It returns true if the specified element is found in the list else it returns false.

Java

// Java program to check 
// whether element exists 
// in Java ArrayList 
  
import java.io.*; 
import java.util.ArrayList; 
  
class GFG { 
    public static void main(String[] args) 
    { 
        ArrayList<Integer> list = new ArrayList<>(); 
  
        // use add() method to add elements in the list 
        list.add(1); 
        list.add(2); 
        list.add(3); 
        list.add(4); 
  
        // passing 5 as as as 
        // parameter to contains() 
        // function 
        if (list.contains(5)) 
            System.out.println("5 exists in the ArrayList"); 
  
        else
            System.out.println("5 does not exist in the ArrayList"); 
  
        if (list.contains(2)) 
            System.out.println("2 exists in the ArrayList"); 
  
        else
            System.out.println("2 does not exist in the ArrayList"); 
        
    } 
}

Output

5 does not exist in the ArrayList
2 exists in the ArrayList

Method 2: Using indexOf() method

Contains() method uses indexOf() method to determine if a specified element is present in the list or not.
So we can also directly use the indexOf() method to check the existence of any supplied element value.

Java

// Java program to check  
// whether element exists  
// in Java ArrayList 
  
import java.io.*; 
import java.util.ArrayList; 
  
class GFG { 
    public static void main (String[] args) { 
        ArrayList<Integer> list = new ArrayList<>(); 
  
      // use add() method to add elements in the list 
      list.add(2); 
      list.add(5); 
      list.add(1); 
      list.add(6); 
        
      // passing 5 as as as 
      // parameter to contains() 
      // function 
      if(list.indexOf(5)>=0) 
        System.out.println("5 exists in the ArrayList"); 
        
      else
        System.out.println("5 does not exist in the ArrayList"); 
        
      if(list.indexOf(8)>=0) 
         System.out.println("8 exists in the ArrayList"); 
        
      else
        System.out.println("8 does not exist in the ArrayList"); 
        
    } 
} 

Output

5 exists in the ArrayList
8 does not exist in the ArrayList

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