---
page_title: contains function reference
description: The `contains` function determines whether a list or set contains a given value. Learn how to use the `contains` function in Packer templates.
---

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> [!IMPORTANT]  
> **Documentation Update:** Product documentation previously located in `/website` has moved to the [`hashicorp/web-unified-docs`](https://github.com/hashicorp/web-unified-docs) repository, where all product documentation is now centralized. Please make contributions directly to `web-unified-docs`, since changes to `/website` in this repository will not appear on developer.hashicorp.com.
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# `contains` Function

`contains` determines whether a given list or set contains a given single value
as one of its elements.

```hcl
contains(list, value)
```

## Examples

```shell-session
> contains(["a", "b", "c"], "a")
true
> contains(["a", "b", "c"], "d")
false
```
