I have a set of input fields, each with the class "smarty_address_check"

<input type="text" class="smarty_address_check" value="this is a new value" />
<input type="text" class="smarty_address_check" value="this value has been unchanged" />
etc

What I need to do is

• for each input field value
• pare that value to each of the values in the array (array is called smarty_address_check)
• if it matches, do something.

The values in the array are the original default/example values of the input fields, and if the user hasn't changed them I want to act on that.

var exampleAddressPresent = false;
    for (var i = 0; i<smarty_address_check.length; i++) {
        $('.smarty_address_check').each(function() { //For each of inputs
            if (smarty_address_check[i].match($(this).val())) { //if match against array
                var exampleAddressPresent = true; //Example address present
                console.log($(this).attr("id")); //store id of unchanged input

            }
        });
    }

I get the feeling this is bad programming logic, not to mention I can't work out why it isn't working properly. All I basically want to do is pare one string against another. Does anybody know of a better way to approach this?

I have a set of input fields, each with the class "smarty_address_check"

<input type="text" class="smarty_address_check" value="this is a new value" />
<input type="text" class="smarty_address_check" value="this value has been unchanged" />
etc

What I need to do is

• for each input field value
• pare that value to each of the values in the array (array is called smarty_address_check)
• if it matches, do something.

The values in the array are the original default/example values of the input fields, and if the user hasn't changed them I want to act on that.

var exampleAddressPresent = false;
    for (var i = 0; i<smarty_address_check.length; i++) {
        $('.smarty_address_check').each(function() { //For each of inputs
            if (smarty_address_check[i].match($(this).val())) { //if match against array
                var exampleAddressPresent = true; //Example address present
                console.log($(this).attr("id")); //store id of unchanged input

            }
        });
    }

I get the feeling this is bad programming logic, not to mention I can't work out why it isn't working properly. All I basically want to do is pare one string against another. Does anybody know of a better way to approach this?

• javascript
• jquery
• logic

• Remove your second "var" keyword on exampleAddressPresent. Because it redefines it locally, and you won't be able to use it globally. – Flo Schild Commented Apr 25, 2013 at 10:52

2 Answers 2

You don't need match() to pare two strings. There is the mon === pare operator

if(smarty_address_check[i] === $(this).val()) {

EDIT: If the index of the array matches the index/position of the input, you can avoid the outer loop by using the same index

$('.smarty_address_check').each(function(index) { //For each of inputs
    if (smarty_address_check[index] === $(this).val()) { //if match against array
        exampleAddressPresent = true; //Example address present
        console.log($(this).attr("id")); //store id of unchanged input
    }
});

If the array you are checking against is an Array of strings, a possible solution would be :

Convert the values in the Array to one single string:

var myArray = ['apples', 'mangoes', 'bananas'] // example Array of strings
var string = myArray.join(':'); // we'll get "apples:mangoes:bananas"

Next, we can check if our value is on that string

var myValue = 'apples' // example input value
if(string.indexOf(myValue) !== -1) 
  // do something (i.e. myValue matches with one of the values on myArray)

Good Luck