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.TH "CONTAINS" "1" "Sep 09, 2026" "4.9" "fish-shell"
.SH NAME
contains \- test if a word is present in a list
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
\fBcontains\fP [\fIOPTIONS\fP] [\fB\-\-\fP] \fIKEY\fP [\fIVALUES\fP \&...]
.fi
.sp
.SH DESCRIPTION
.sp
\fBcontains\fP tests whether the set \fIVALUES\fP contains the string \fIKEY\fP\&.
If so, \fBcontains\fP exits with code 0; if not, it exits with code 1.
.sp
The following options are available:
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
\fB\-i\fP or \fB\-\-index\fP
Print the index (number of the element in the set) of the first matching element.
.TP
\fB\-h\fP or \fB\-\-help\fP
Displays help about using this command.
.UNINDENT
.sp
Options must be passed before \fIKEY\fP\&.
All arguments after \fIKEY\fP will be considered a value, regardless if they start with a \fB\-\fP or not, including \fB\-\-\fP\&.
If \fIKEY\fP itself starts with a \fB\-\fP, use a \fB\-\-\fP argument to separate it from the options.
.sp
See the examples below.
.SH EXAMPLE
.sp
If \fIanimals\fP is a list of animals, the following will test if \fIanimals\fP contains \(dqcat\(dq:
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.EX
if contains cat $animals
   echo Your animal list is evil!
end
.EE
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
This code will add some directories to \fBPATH\fP \%<#\:envvar-PATH> if they aren\(aqt yet included:
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.EX
for i in ~/bin /usr/local/bin
    if not contains $i $PATH
        set PATH $PATH $i
    end
end
.EE
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
While this will check if function \fBhasargs\fP is being ran with the \fB\-q\fP option:
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.EX
function hasargs
    if contains \-\- \-q $argv
        echo \(aq$argv contains a \-q option\(aq
    end
end
.EE
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
The \fB\-\-\fP here stops \fBcontains\fP from treating \fB\-q\fP to an option to itself.
Instead it treats it as a normal string to check.
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.EX
contains \-i foo \-q \-\- foo
.EE
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
This returns 3, since all arguments after the key are considered a value.
.SH Copyright
fish-shell developers
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