Checking if value exists in array with array_search()

If 0 could be a possible key returned from array_search(), what would be the best method for testing if an element exists in an array using this function (or any php function; if there’s a better one, please share)?

I was trying to do this:

if(array_search($needle, $haystack)) //...

But that would of course return false if $needle is the first element in the array. I guess what I’m asking is is there some trick I can do in this if statement to get it to behave like I want it? I tried doing these, but none of them worked:

$arr = array(3,4,5,6,7);

if(array_search(3, $arr) != false)  //...

if(array_search(3, $arr) >= 0)  //...

Appreciate the help.

Answer

As an alternative to === and !==, you can also use in_array:

if (in_array($needle, $haystack))