## jQuery.inArray( value, array [, fromIndex ] )Returns: Number

Description: Search for a specified value within an array and return its index (or -1 if not found).

- #### version added: 1.2 jQuery.inArray( value, array [, fromIndex ] )

  - value
    Type: Anything
    The value to search for.
  - array
    Type: Array
    An array through which to search.
  - fromIndex
    Type: Number
    The index of the array at which to begin the search. The default is 0, which will search the whole array.

The `$.inArray()` method is similar to JavaScript's native `.indexOf()` method in that it returns -1 when it doesn't find a match. If the first element within the array matches `value`, `$.inArray()` returns 0.

Because JavaScript treats 0 as loosely equal to false (i.e. 0 == false, but 0 !== false), to check for the presence of `value` within `array`, you need to check if it's not equal to (or greater than) -1.

The comparison between values is strict. The following will return `-1` (not found) because a number is being searched in an array of strings:

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    $.inArray( 5 + 5, [ "8", "9", "10", 10 + "" ] );

## Example:

Report the index of some elements in the array.

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    <!doctype html><html lang="en"><head>  <meta charset="utf-8">  <title>jQuery.inArray demo</title>  <style>  div {    color: blue;  }  span {    color: red;  }  </style>  <script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.10.2.js"></script></head><body> <div>"John" found at <span></span></div><div>4 found at <span></span></div><div>"Karl" not found, so <span></span></div><div>"Pete" is in the array, but not at or after index 2, so <span></span></div> <script>var arr = [ 4, "Pete", 8, "John" ];var $spans = $( "span" );$spans.eq( 0 ).text( jQuery.inArray( "John", arr ) );$spans.eq( 1 ).text( jQuery.inArray( 4, arr ) );$spans.eq( 2 ).text( jQuery.inArray( "Karl", arr ) );$spans.eq( 3 ).text( jQuery.inArray( "Pete", arr, 2 ) );</script> </body></html>

#### Demo: