title: how to check if arraylist contains a string
body: <p>I have this code, to find the number of female artists, male artists, or bands - </p>
  
  <pre><code> import java.util.*;
  
  
   public class FindGender {
  
  
      public static void main(String[] args) {
          // TODO code application logic here
          ArrayList &lt; String &gt; artists = new ArrayList &lt; &gt; ();
          int mnum = 0, fnum = 0, bnum = 0;
          artists.add("Beyonce (f)");
          artists.add("Drake (m)");
          artists.add("Madonna (f)");
          artists.add("Michael Jackson (m)");
          artists.add("Porcupine Tree (b)");
          artists.add("Opeth (b)");
          artists.add("FallOut Boy (b)");
          artists.add("Rick Ross {m}");
          artists.add("Chris Brown (m)");
          if (artists.contains("(b)")) bnum++;
          if (artists.contains("(m)")) mnum++;
          if (artists.contains("(f)")) fnum++;
          System.out.println("The number of male artists is: " + mnum);
          System.out.println("The number of female artists is: " + fnum);
          System.out.println("The number of bands is: " + bnum);
      }
  
   }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>But the output shows - 
  run:</p>
  
  <pre><code>The number of male artists is: 0
  The number of female artists is: 0
  The number of bands is: 0
  BUILD SUCCESSFUL (total time: 0 seconds)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Any help would be appreciated</p>