Check if certain stings (even with spaces) are in array

Trying to compare two arrays and see if existing words (even with spaces) exists in both. See below.

I think I have a rough idea. Thanks ahead for your help!

HTML

<meta name="keywords" content="dog, cat, humming bird, shark, king cobra">


Jquery

var myArray = $("meta[name='keywords']").attr("content");
var myAnimals = ["humming bird","king cobra"];
if (jQuery.inArray(myAnimals, myArray) != -1) {
alert('animal exists');
}


Possible duplicate of Check if an array contains any element of another array in JavaScript
– Mike McCaughan
Jun 29 at 17:50

4 Answers
4

attr("content") will return a string. You can use split(',') to convert the string into an array. Use map to loop thru the array and trim() the spaces.

attr("content")

split(',')

map

trim()

You can use some() to loop thru the myArray array and use includes to check whether an array includes a certain string.

some()

myArray

includes

var myArray = $("meta[name='keywords']").attr("content").split(',').map(o => o.trim());
var myAnimals = ["humming bird", "king cobra"];

var result = myArray.some(o => myAnimals.includes(o));
console.log(result);

https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js
<meta name="keywords" content="dog, cat, humming bird, shark, king cobra">

If you want to get the actual array elements, you can use filter() and includes()

filter()

includes()

var myArray = $("meta[name='keywords']").attr("content").split(',').map(o => o.trim());
var myAnimals = ["humming bird", "king cobra", "owl"];

var result = myArray.filter(o => myAnimals.includes(o));

console.log(result);

https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js
<meta name="keywords" content="dog, cat, humming bird, shark, king cobra">

//split the keywords so it is a real array
var myArray = $("meta[name='keywords']").attr("content").split(', ');
console.log(myArray);

var myAnimals = ["humming bird","king cobra"];

//loop over your animals
myAnimals.forEach(function(animal){
//check if each animal is in the array
if (myArray.indexOf(animal) > -1) {
console.log(animal +' exists!');
} else {
console.log(animal +' does not exist!');
}
});

https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js
<meta name="keywords" content="dog, cat, humming bird, shark, king cobra">

Change

var myArray = $("meta[name='keywords']").attr("content");


to

var myArray = $("meta[name='keywords']").attr("content").split(", ");


Then your code should work.

It still won't work. $.inArray() doesn't compare two arrays.
– Barmar
Jun 29 at 18:25

$.inArray()

After using .split(', ') on your keywords to create an array,
you could use a function to get all the similar elements:

.split(', ')

keywords

var myArray = $("meta[name='keywords']").attr("content").split(', ');
var myAnimals = ["humming bird", "king cobra"];

function get_similarities(arrayA, arrayB) {
var matches = ;
for (var i = 0; i < arrayA.length; i++) {
if (arrayB.includes(arrayA[i]))
matches.push(arrayA[i]);
}
return matches;
}

var similarities = get_similarities(myArray, myAnimals);
console.log('Found in both arrays:', similarities);

https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js
<meta name="keywords" content="dog, cat, humming bird, shark, king cobra">

Hope it helps.

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