python - Check if item is in an array / list

Question

If I've got an array of strings, can I check to see if a string is in the array without doing a for loop? Specifically, I'm looking for a way to do it within an if statement, so something like this:

if [check that item is in array]:

Answer 1

Assuming you mean "list" where you say "array", you can do

if item in my_list:
    # whatever

This works for any collection, not just for lists. For dictionaries, it checks whether the given key is present in the dictionary.