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Java ArrayList contains() Method with Example

ArrayList Class contains() method: Here, we are going to learn about the contains() method of ArrayList Class with its syntax and example.
Submitted by Preeti Jain, on January 19, 2020

ArrayList Class contains() method

• contains() method is available in java.util package.
• contains() method is used to check whether this Arraylist contains the given object or not.
• contains() method is a non-static method so it is accessible with the class object and if we try to access the method with the class name then we will get an error.
• contains() method does not throw an exception at the time of checking the given object in this Arraylist.

Syntax:

    public boolean contains(Object obj);

Parameter(s):

• Object obj – represents the object to be checked whether exists or not exists in this Arraylist.

Return value:

The return type of this method is boolean, it returns true if the given object exists in this Arraylist otherwise, it returns false when the given object does not exist in this Arraylist.

Example:

// Java program to demonstrate the example 
// of boolean contains() method of ArrayList

import java.util.*;

public class ContainsOfArrayList {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Create an ArrayList with initial 
        // capacity of storing elements

        ArrayList arr_l = new ArrayList(10);

        // By using add() method is to add 
        // elements in this ArrayList
        arr_l.add("C");
        arr_l.add("C++");
        arr_l.add("JAVA");
        arr_l.add("DOTNET");
        arr_l.add("PHP");

        // Display ArrayList
        System.out.println("ArrayList Elements: " + arr_l);

        // By using contains(Object) method is to check
        // the existence of the given object
        boolean status = arr_l.contains("C++");

        // Display status of the given object
        System.out.println("arr_l.contains(C++):  " + status);
    }
}

Output

ArrayList Elements: [C, C++, JAVA, DOTNET, PHP]
arr_l.contains(C++):  true