How to tell if a string contains a certain character in JavaScript?

With ES6 MDN docs .includes()

"FooBar".includes("oo"); // true

"FooBar".includes("foo"); // false

"FooBar".includes("oo", 2); // false

E: Not suported by IE - instead you can use the Tilde opperator ~ (Bitwise NOT) with .indexOf()

~"FooBar".indexOf("oo"); // -2 -> true

~"FooBar".indexOf("foo"); // 0 -> false

~"FooBar".indexOf("oo", 2); // 0 -> false

Used with a number, the Tilde operator effective does ~N => -(N+1). Use it with double negation !! (Logical NOT) to convert the numbers in bools:

!!~"FooBar".indexOf("oo"); // true

!!~"FooBar".indexOf("foo"); // false

!!~"FooBar".indexOf("oo", 2); // false

 

If you have the text in variable foo:

if (! /^[a-zA-Z0-9]+$/.test(foo)) {
    // Validation failed
}

This will test and make sure the user has entered at least one character, and has entered only alphanumeric characters.


To find "hello" in your_string

if (your_string.indexOf('hello') > -1)
{
  alert("hello found inside your_string");
}

For the alpha numeric you can use a regular expression:

http://www.regular-expressions.info/javascript.html

Alpha Numeric Regular Expression


check if string(word/sentence...) contains specific word/character

if ( "write something here".indexOf("write som") > -1 )  { alert( "found it" );  }