I wrote some code that looks similar to the following:

String SKIP_FIRST = "foo";
String SKIP_SECOND = "foo/bar";

int skipFooBarIndex(String[] list){
    int index;
    if (list.length >= (index = 1) && list[0].equals(SKIP_FIRST) ||
        list.length >= (index = 2) && 
        (list[0] + "/" + list[1]).equals(SKIP_SECOND)){
        return index;
    }

    return 0;
}

String[] myArray = "foo/bar/apples/peaches/cherries".split("/");
print(skipFooBarIndex(myArray);

This changes state inside of the if statement by assigning index. However, my coworkers disliked this very much.

Is this a harmful practice? Is there any reason to do it?