is_member()
{
is_member_1=$1
shift
for is_member_i in $@
do
if test "$is_member_i" = "$is_member_1"
then
return 0
fi
done
return 1
}
not_member()
{
not_member_1=$1
shift
for not_member_i in $@
do
if test "$not_member_1" = "$not_member_i"
then
return 1
fi
done
return 0
}
so then you can use as
if is_member "$something" $LISTOFTHINGS
then
echo it exists
fi