BSEARCH   (3) manpage
BSEARCH
3
2003-11-01
Linux Programmer's Manual
  • NAME
      bsearch - binary search of a sorted array
  • SYNOPSIS
      
       #include <stdlib.h>
      
       void *bsearch(const void * key , const void * base , size_t  nmemb ,
      
      size_t size , int (* compar )(const void *, const void *));
  • DESCRIPTION
      The bsearch() function searches an array of nmemb objects,
      the initial member of which is pointed to by base, for a member
      that matches the object pointed to by key.  The size of each member
      of the array is specified by size.



      The contents of the array should be in ascending sorted order according
      to the comparison function referenced by compar.  The compar
      routine is expected to have two arguments which point to the key
      object and to an array member, in that order, and should return an integer
      less than, equal to, or greater than zero if the key object is found,
      respectively, to be less than, to match, or be greater than the array
      member.
  • RETURN VALUE
      The bsearch() function returns a pointer to a matching member of the
      array, or NULL if no match is found.  If there are multiple elements that
      match the key, the element returned is unspecified.
  • EXAMPLE
      The example below first sorts an array of structures using
      qsort(3) ,
      then retrieves desired elements using
      bsearch() .


      
      #include <stdio.h>
      #include <stdlib.h>
      #include <string.h>
      
      struct mi {
      	int nr;
      	char *name;
      } months[] = {
      	{ 1, "jan" }, { 2, "feb" }, { 3, "mar" }, { 4, "apr" },
      	{ 5, "may" }, { 6, "jun" }, { 7, "jul" }, { 8, "aug" },
      	{ 9, "sep" }, {10, "oct" }, {11, "nov" }, {12, "dec" }
      };
      
      #define nr_of_months (sizeof(months)/sizeof(months[0]))
      
      static int compmi(const void *m1, const void *m2) {
      	struct mi *mi1 = (struct mi *) m1;
      	struct mi *mi2 = (struct mi *) m2;
      	return strcmp(mi1->name, mi2->name);
      }
      
      int main(int argc, char **argv) {
      	int i;
      
      	qsort(months, nr_of_months, sizeof(struct mi), compmi);
      	for (i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
      		struct mi key, *res;
      		key.name = argv[i];
      		res = bsearch(&key, months, nr_of_months,
      			      sizeof(struct mi), compmi);
      		if (res == NULL)
      			printf("'%s': unknown month\n", argv[i]);
      		else
      			printf("%s: month #%d\n", res->name, res->nr);
      	}
      	return 0;
      }
      
  • CONFORMING TO
      SVID 3, BSD 4.3, ISO 9899 (C99)
  • SEE ALSO
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