Why doesn't indexOf work on an array IE8?

Versions of IE before IE9 don't have an .indexOf() function for Array, to define the exact spec version, run this before trying to use it:

if (!Array.prototype.indexOf)
{
  Array.prototype.indexOf = function(elt /*, from*/)
  {
    var len = this.length >>> 0;

    var from = Number(arguments[1]) || 0;
    from = (from < 0)
         ? Math.ceil(from)
         : Math.floor(from);
    if (from < 0)
      from += len;

    for (; from < len; from++)
    {
      if (from in this &&
          this[from] === elt)
        return from;
    }
    return -1;
  };
}

This is the version from MDN, used in Firefox/SpiderMonkey. In other cases such as IE, it'll add .indexOf() in the case it's missing... basically IE8 or below at this point.

If you're using jQuery, you can use $.inArray() instead.

If you're using jQuery and want to keep using indexOf without worrying about compatibility issues, you can do this :

if (!Array.prototype.indexOf) {
    Array.prototype.indexOf = function(val) {
        return jQuery.inArray(val, this);
    };
}

This is helpful when you want to keep using indexOf but provide a fallback when it's not available.