[arrays] Check if a value is in an array or not with Excel VBA

I've got some code below, that is supposed to be checking if a value is in an Array or not.

Sub test()
    vars1 = Array("Examples")
    vars2 = Array("Example")
    If IsInArray(Range("A1").Value, vars1) Then
        x = 1
    End If

    If IsInArray(Range("A1").Value, vars2) Then
        x = 1
    End If
End Sub

Function IsInArray(stringToBeFound As String, arr As Variant) As Boolean
  IsInArray = (UBound(Filter(arr, stringToBeFound)) > -1)
End Function

If the cell A1 contains the word Examples for some reason both of the IsInArray detects it as existing for both Arrays when it should only find it existing in the vars1 array

What do I need to change to make my IsInArray function to make it an exact match?

This question is related to arrays vba excel

The answer is


You can brute force it like this:

Public Function IsInArray(stringToBeFound As String, arr As Variant) As Boolean
    Dim i
    For i = LBound(arr) To UBound(arr)
        If arr(i) = stringToBeFound Then
            IsInArray = True
            Exit Function
        End If
    Next i
    IsInArray = False

End Function

Use like

IsInArray("example", Array("example", "someother text", "more things", "and another"))

This Question was asked here: VBA Arrays - Check strict (not approximative) match

Sub test()
    vars1 = Array("Examples")
    vars2 = Array("Example")
    If IsInArray(Range("A1").value, vars1) Then
        x = 1
    End If

    If IsInArray(Range("A1").value, vars2) Then
        x = 1
    End If
End Sub

Function IsInArray(stringToBeFound As String, arr As Variant) As Boolean
    IsInArray = Not IsError(Application.Match(stringToBeFound, arr, 0))
End Function

I searched for this very question and when I saw the answers I ended up creating something different (because I favor less code over most other things most of the time) that should work in the vast majority of cases. Basically turn the array into a string with array elements separated by some delimiter character, and then wrap the search value in the delimiter character and pass through instr.

Function is_in_array(value As String, test_array) As Boolean
    If Not (IsArray(test_array)) Then Exit Function
    If InStr(1, "'" & Join(test_array, "'") & "'", "'" & value & "'") > 0 _
        Then is_in_array = True
End Function

And you'd execute the function like this:

test = is_in_array(1, array(1, 2, 3))

Use Match() function in excel VBA to check whether the value exists in an array.

Sub test()
    Dim x As Long

    vars1 = Array("Abc", "Xyz", "Examples")
    vars2 = Array("Def", "IJK", "MNO")

    If IsNumeric(Application.Match(Range("A1").Value, vars1, 0)) Then
        x = 1
    ElseIf IsNumeric(Application.Match(Range("A1").Value, vars2, 0)) Then
        x = 1
    End If

    MsgBox x
End Sub

The below function would return '0' if there is no match and a 'positive integer' in case of matching:


Function IsInArray(stringToBeFound As String, arr As Variant) As Integer IsInArray = InStr(Join(arr, ""), stringToBeFound) End Function ______________________________________________________________________________

Note: the function first concatenates the entire array content to a string using 'Join' (not sure if the join method uses looping internally or not) and then checks for a macth within this string using InStr.


While this is essentially just @Brad's answer again, I thought it might be worth including a slightly modified function which will return the index of the item you're searching for if it exists in the array. If the item is not in the array, it returns -1 instead.

The output of this can be checked just like the "in string" function, If InStr(...) > 0 Then, so I made a little test function below it as an example.

Option Explicit

Public Function IsInArrayIndex(stringToFind As String, arr As Variant) As Long

    IsInArrayIndex = -1

    Dim i As Long
    For i = LBound(arr, 1) To UBound(arr, 1)
        If arr(i) = stringToFind Then
            IsInArrayIndex = i
            Exit Function
        End If
    Next i

End Function

Sub test()

    Dim fruitArray As Variant
    fruitArray = Array("orange", "apple", "banana", "berry")

    Dim result As Long
    result = IsInArrayIndex("apple", fruitArray)

    If result >= 0 Then
        Debug.Print chr(34) & fruitArray(result) & chr(34) & " exists in array at index " & result
    Else
        Debug.Print "does not exist in array"
    End If

End Sub

Then I went a little overboard and fleshed out one for two dimensional arrays because when you generate an array based on a range it's generally in this form.

It returns a single dimension variant array with just two values, the two indices of the array used as an input (assuming the value is found). If the value is not found, it returns an array of (-1, -1).

Option Explicit

Public Function IsInArray2DIndex(stringToFind As String, arr As Variant) As Variant

    IsInArray2DIndex= Array(-1, -1)

    Dim i As Long
    Dim j As Long

    For i = LBound(arr, 1) To UBound(arr, 1)
        For j = LBound(arr, 2) To UBound(arr, 2)
            If arr(i, j) = stringToFind Then
                IsInArray2DIndex= Array(i, j)
                Exit Function
            End If
        Next j
    Next i

End Function

Here's a picture of the data that I set up for the test, followed by the test:

test 2

Sub test2()

    Dim fruitArray2D As Variant
    fruitArray2D = sheets("Sheet1").Range("A1:B2").value

    Dim result As Variant
    result = IsInArray2DIndex("apple", fruitArray2D)

    If result(0) >= 0 And result(1) >= 0 Then
        Debug.Print chr(34) & fruitArray2D(result(0), result(1)) & chr(34) & " exists in array at row: " & result(0) & ", col: " & result(1)
    Else
        Debug.Print "does not exist in array"
    End If

End Sub

I would like to provide another variant that should be both performant and powerful, because

...

'-1 if not found
'https://stackoverflow.com/a/56327647/1915920
Public Function IsInArray( _
  item As Variant, _
  arr As Variant, _
  Optional nthOccurrence As Long = 1 _
  ) As Long

    IsInArray = -1

    Dim i As Long:  For i = LBound(arr, 1) To UBound(arr, 1)
        If arr(i) = item Then
            If nthOccurrence > 1 Then
                nthOccurrence = nthOccurrence - 1
                GoTo continue
            End If
            IsInArray = i
            Exit Function
        End If
continue:
    Next i

End Function

use it like this:

Sub testInt()
  Debug.Print IsInArray(2, Array(1, 2, 3))  '=> 1
End Sub

Sub testString1()
  Debug.Print IsInArray("b", Array("a", "b", "c", "a"))  '=> 1
End Sub

Sub testString2()
  Debug.Print IsInArray("b", Array("a", "b", "c", "b"), 2)  '=> 3
End Sub

Sub testBool1()
  Debug.Print IsInArray(False, Array(True, False, True))  '=> 1
End Sub

Sub testBool2()
  Debug.Print IsInArray(True, Array(True, False, True), 2)  '=> 2
End Sub

You want to check whether Examples exists in Range("A1").Value If it fails then to check Example right? I think mycode will work perfect. Please check.

Sub test()
Dim string1 As String, string2 As String
string1 = "Examples"
string2 = "Example"
If InStr(1, Range("A1").Value, string1) > 0 Then
    x = 1
ElseIf InStr(1, Range("A1").Value, string2) > 0 Then
    x = 2
End If

End Sub


Questions with arrays tag:

PHP array value passes to next row Use NSInteger as array index How do I show a message in the foreach loop? Objects are not valid as a React child. If you meant to render a collection of children, use an array instead Iterating over arrays in Python 3 Best way to "push" into C# array Sort Array of object by object field in Angular 6 Checking for duplicate strings in JavaScript array what does numpy ndarray shape do? How to round a numpy array? How to update an "array of objects" with Firestore? How to increment a letter N times per iteration and store in an array? Cloning an array in Javascript/Typescript use Lodash to sort array of object by value TypeScript enum to object array How do I check whether an array contains a string in TypeScript? How to use forEach in vueJs? Program to find largest and second largest number in array How to plot an array in python? How to add and remove item from array in components in Vue 2 console.log(result) returns [object Object]. How do I get result.name? How to map an array of objects in React How to define Typescript Map of key value pair. where key is a number and value is an array of objects Removing object from array in Swift 3 How to group an array of objects by key Find object by its property in array of objects with AngularJS way Getting an object array from an Angular service push object into array How to get first and last element in an array in java? Add key value pair to all objects in array How to convert array into comma separated string in javascript Showing ValueError: shapes (1,3) and (1,3) not aligned: 3 (dim 1) != 1 (dim 0) Angular 2 declaring an array of objects How can I loop through enum values for display in radio buttons? How to convert JSON object to an Typescript array? Angular get object from array by Id Add property to an array of objects Declare an array in TypeScript ValueError: all the input arrays must have same number of dimensions How to convert an Object {} to an Array [] of key-value pairs in JavaScript Check if a value is in an array or not with Excel VBA TypeScript add Object to array with push Filter array to have unique values remove first element from array and return the array minus the first element merge two object arrays with Angular 2 and TypeScript? Creating an Array from a Range in VBA "error: assignment to expression with array type error" when I assign a struct field (C) How do I filter an array with TypeScript in Angular 2? How to generate range of numbers from 0 to n in ES2015 only? TypeError: Invalid dimensions for image data when plotting array with imshow()

Questions with vba tag:

Copy filtered data to another sheet using VBA Better way to find last used row Check if a value is in an array or not with Excel VBA Creating an Array from a Range in VBA Excel: macro to export worksheet as CSV file without leaving my current Excel sheet VBA: Convert Text to Number What's the difference between "end" and "exit sub" in VBA? Rename Excel Sheet with VBA Macro Extract Data from PDF and Add to Worksheet Quicker way to get all unique values of a column in VBA? Multiple conditions in an IF statement in Excel VBA Unprotect workbook without password Find row number of matching value Clear contents and formatting of an Excel cell with a single command Remove Duplicates from range of cells in excel vba Delete worksheet in Excel using VBA Get list of Excel files in a folder using VBA Excel doesn't update value unless I hit Enter Declare a variable as Decimal Detect if a Form Control option button is selected in VBA Get length of array? Quickest way to clear all sheet contents VBA VBA: Counting rows in a table (list object) Excel VBA If cell.Value =... then VBA Excel - Insert row below with same format including borders and frames filter out multiple criteria using excel vba Use Excel VBA to click on a button in Internet Explorer, when the button has no "name" associated File name without extension name VBA How to declare Global Variables in Excel VBA to be visible across the Workbook Using "If cell contains" in VBA excel Microsoft Excel ActiveX Controls Disabled? Using Excel VBA to run SQL query Conditionally formatting cells if their value equals any value of another column VBA Print to PDF and Save with Automatic File Name Add newline to VBA or Visual Basic 6 Scraping data from website using vba Meaning of .Cells(.Rows.Count,"A").End(xlUp).row VBA using ubound on a multidimensional array How to delete specific columns with VBA? How to pass an array to a function in VBA? VBA EXCEL To Prompt User Response to Select Folder and Return the Path as String Variable check if array is empty (vba excel) How to detect if user select cancel InputBox VBA Excel VBA - Select columns using numbers? Declaring variable workbook / Worksheet vba WorksheetFunction.CountA - not working post upgrade to Office 2010 Fill formula down till last row in column VBA copy cells value and format Declare a Range relative to the Active Cell with VBA Open a workbook using FileDialog and manipulate it in Excel VBA

Questions with excel tag:

Python: Pandas pd.read_excel giving ImportError: Install xlrd >= 0.9.0 for Excel support Converting unix time into date-time via excel How to increment a letter N times per iteration and store in an array? 'Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.16.0' provider is not registered on the local machine. (System.Data) How to import an Excel file into SQL Server? Copy filtered data to another sheet using VBA Better way to find last used row Could pandas use column as index? Check if a value is in an array or not with Excel VBA How to sort dates from Oldest to Newest in Excel? Creating an Array from a Range in VBA Excel: macro to export worksheet as CSV file without leaving my current Excel sheet VBA: Convert Text to Number EPPlus - Read Excel Table How to label scatterplot points by name? What's the difference between "end" and "exit sub" in VBA? Rename Excel Sheet with VBA Macro Extract Data from PDF and Add to Worksheet Quicker way to get all unique values of a column in VBA? Multiple conditions in an IF statement in Excel VBA How to find and replace with regex in excel Unprotect workbook without password Excel is not updating cells, options > formula > workbook calculation set to automatic Find row number of matching value If "0" then leave the cell blank Clear contents and formatting of an Excel cell with a single command Remove Duplicates from range of cells in excel vba Delete worksheet in Excel using VBA Get list of Excel files in a folder using VBA Excel doesn't update value unless I hit Enter Declare a variable as Decimal Parse XLSX with Node and create json Detect if a Form Control option button is selected in VBA Get length of array? Object of class stdClass could not be converted to string - laravel Java - Writing strings to a CSV file Quickest way to clear all sheet contents VBA VBA: Counting rows in a table (list object) Excel VBA If cell.Value =... then VBA Excel - Insert row below with same format including borders and frames excel - if cell is not blank, then do IF statement filter out multiple criteria using excel vba Referencing value in a closed Excel workbook using INDIRECT? Use Excel VBA to click on a button in Internet Explorer, when the button has no "name" associated IndexError: too many indices for array File name without extension name VBA (Excel) Conditional Formatting based on Adjacent Cell Value Easy way to export multiple data.frame to multiple Excel worksheets Using ExcelDataReader to read Excel data starting from a particular cell What are the RGB codes for the Conditional Formatting 'Styles' in Excel?