[java] How to search for a string in an arraylist

I want to search for a string in an arraylist. My ArrayList contains:

ArrayList <String> list = new ArrayList(); 
list.add("behold");
list.add("bend");
list.add("bet");
list.add("bear");
list.add("beat");
list.add("become");
list.add("begin");

Now I want to search for "bea" and it should return a list containing "bear" and "beat". How can I implement it?

Better way is to use matches() method on every String element of the array. This will help you to search any pattern through regular expressions.

May be easier using a java.util.HashSet. For example:

  List <String> list = new ArrayList<String>(); 
  list.add("behold");
  list.add("bend");
  list.add("bet");

  //Load the list into a hashSet
  Set<String> set = new HashSet<String>(list);
  if (set.contains("bend"))
  {
    System.out.println("String found!");
  }

First you have to copy, from AdapterArrayList to tempsearchnewArrayList ( Add ListView items into tempsearchnewArrayList ) , because then only you can compare whether search text is appears in Arraylist or not.

After creating temporary arraylist, add below code.

    searchEditTextBox.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher() {
        @Override
        public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence charSequence, int i, int i1, int i2) {
        }
        @Override
        public void onTextChanged(CharSequence charSequence, int i, int i1, int i2) {
            String txt = charSequence.toString().trim();
            int txtlength = txt.length();
            if (txtlength > 0) {
                AdapterArrayList = new ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>>();
                for (int j = 0; j< tempsearchnewArrayList.size(); j++) {
                    if (tempsearchnewArrayList.get(j).get("type").toLowerCase().contains(txt)) {
                        AdapterArrayList.add(tempsearchnewArrayList.get(j));
                    }
                }
            } else {
                AdapterArrayList = new ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>>();
                AdapterArrayList.addAll(tempsearchnewArrayList);
            }
            adapter1.notifyDataSetChanged();
            if (AdapterArrayList.size() > 0) {
                mainactivitylistview.setAdapter(adapter1);
            } else {
                mainactivitylistview.setAdapter(null);
            }

        }
        @Override
        public void afterTextChanged(Editable editable) {

        }
    });

Since your list doesn't appear to be sorted, you have to iterate over its elements. Apply startsWith() or contains() to each element, and store matches in an auxiliary list. Return the auxiliary list when done.

Nowadays, Java 8 allows for a one-line functional solution that is cleaner, faster, and a whole lot simpler than the accepted solution:

List<String> list = new ArrayList<>();
list.add("behold");
list.add("bend");
list.add("bet");
list.add("bear");
list.add("beat");
list.add("become");
list.add("begin");

List<String> matches = list.stream().filter(it -> it.contains("bea")).collect(Collectors.toList());

System.out.println(matches); // [bear, beat]

And even easier in Kotlin:

val matches = list.filter { it.contains("bea") }

import java.util.*;
class ArrayLst
{
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        ArrayList<String> ar = new ArrayList<String>();
        ar.add("pulak");
        ar.add("sangeeta");
        ar.add("sumit");
System.out.println("Enter the name:");
Scanner scan=new Scanner(System.in);
String st=scan.nextLine();
for(String lst: ar)
{
if(st.contains(lst))
{
System.out.println(st+"is here!");
break;
}
else
{
System.out.println("OOps search can't find!");
break;
}
}
}
}

List <String> list = new ArrayList();  
           list.add("behold"); 
           list.add("bend"); 
           list.add("bet"); 
           list.add("bear"); 
           list.add("beat"); 
           list.add("become"); 
           list.add("begin");

           List <String> listClone = new ArrayList<String>(); 
           Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("bea",Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE); //incase u r not concerned about upper/lower case
           for (String string : list) {
               if(pattern.matcher(string).find()) {
                   listClone.add(string);
                   continue;
               }
           }
        System.out.println(listClone);

The Best Order I've seen :

// SearchList is your List  
// TEXT is your Search Text
// SubList is your result

                    ArrayList<String> TempList = new ArrayList<String>(
                            (SearchList));
                    int temp = 0;
                    int num = 0;
                    ArrayList<String> SubList = new ArrayList<String>();
                    while (temp > -1) {
                        temp = TempList.indexOf(new Object() {
                            @Override
                            public boolean equals(Object obj) {
                                return obj.toString().startsWith(TEXT);
                            }
                        });
                        if (temp > -1) {
                         SubList.add(SearchList.get(temp + num++));
                         TempList.remove(temp);
                        }
                    }

Loop through your list and do a contains or startswith.

ArrayList<String> resList = new ArrayList<String>();
String searchString = "bea";

for (String curVal : list){
  if (curVal.contains(searchString)){
    resList.add(curVal);
  }
}

You can wrap that in a method. The contains checks if its in the list. You could also go for startswith.