How can I verify that an array of strings contain a certain string? [duplicate]

Convert the array of valid directions to a list:

List valid = Arrays.asList(directions)

Or just declare it directly as:

List valid = Arrays.asList("UP", "DOWN", "RIGHT", "LEFT", "up", "down", "right", "left")

You can then use the contains method:

if (valid.contains(input)) {
    // is valid
} else {
    // not valid
}

Note that this won’t match a mixed case input such as “Up” so you might want to store just the uppercase values in the list and then use valid.contains(input.toUpperCase())