bsearch

bsearch

Perform a Binary Search

Portability: ISO/ANSI C conforming, UNIX compatible

SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
RETURN VALUE
EXAMPLE
RELATED FUNCTIONS
SEE ALSO

SYNOPSIS

#include <stdlib.h>

void *bsearch(const void *srch, const void *blk,
              size_t n, size_t size,
              int (*cmp)(const void *, const void *));

DESCRIPTION

bsearch scans a sorted memory block addressed by blk for a match with a search value addressed by srch . The blk function is a pointer to the first element of the memory block to be scanned. n designates the number of elements in the block, and size is the size of each element in bytes.

bsearch calls a user-provided comparison function, cmp , and passes cmp pointers to the two objects being compared.

cmp must return the following values:

a negative integer, if the first of the two objects is less than the second
a positive integer, if the first object is greater than the second
0, if the two objects are equal.

The description of qsort discusses comparison function requirements in more detail.

RETURN VALUE

bsearch returns a pointer to the element that matches the search value. If no match can be found, NULL is returned.

EXAMPLE

See the example section for qsort.

RELATED FUNCTIONS

qsort

SEE ALSO

General Utility Functions

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