Copyright (c) 1990 The Regents of the University of California.
All rights reserved.

%sccs.include.redist.man%

@(#)bsearch.3 5.3 (Berkeley) 03/19/91

C 7 bsearch - binary search of a sorted table

#include <stdlib.h>
char *
bsearch(const void *key, const void *base,
size_t nmemb, size_t size,
int (*compar) (const void *, const void *));

The bsearch function searches an array of nmemb objects, the inital 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 . Compar is called with two arguments that point to the key object and to an array member, in that order, and must return an integer less than, equal to, or greater than zero if the key object is considered, respectively, to be less than, equal to, or to greater than the array member.

The bsearch function returns a pointer to a matching member of the array, or a null pointer if no match is found. If two members compare as equal, which member is matched is unspecified.

db(3), lsearch(3), qsort(3) Bsearch conforms to ANSI X3.159-1989 (``ANSI C'').