Question

I frequently find myself writing things like if($var == 'bob' || $var == 'steven || $var == 'james'){ ...

Is there a slicker way in php to check whether a var matches any operator? Or do I have to write my own function like:

function matches_any($question, $pos_answer, $pos_answer, $pos_answer, $pos_answer, ...){
// Call the function args, get the first one, get the rest, compare all the rest, return true if any match, return false by default.
}

Which would be used thus:

if(matches_any($var, $bob, $steven, 'james', $william)){ ...

Answer 1

You can use in_array()

if(in_array('value_to_test', array($var, $bob, $steven, 'james', $william))) {}

$matches = array($var, $bob, $steven, 'james', $william);
if (in_array('james', $matches)) { 
  // TRUE 
}