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<a href="bsearch.3.html#NAME">NAME</a> | <a href="bsearch.3.html#SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a> | <a href="bsearch.3.html#DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a> | <a href="bsearch.3.html#RETURN_VALUE">RETURN&nbsp;VALUE</a> | <a href="bsearch.3.html#ATTRIBUTES">ATTRIBUTES</a> | <a href="bsearch.3.html#CONFORMING_TO">CONFORMING&nbsp;TO</a> | <a href="bsearch.3.html#EXAMPLE">EXAMPLE</a> | <a href="bsearch.3.html#SEE_ALSO">SEE&nbsp;ALSO</a> | <a href="bsearch.3.html#COLOPHON">COLOPHON</a>
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<pre>
<span class="headline">BSEARCH(3)                Linux Programmer's Manual               BSEARCH(3)</span>
</pre>
<h2><a id="NAME" href="bsearch.3.html#NAME"></a>NAME  &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <a href="bsearch.3.html#top_of_page"><span class="top-link">top</span></a></h2><pre>
       bsearch - binary search of a sorted array
</pre>
<h2><a id="SYNOPSIS" href="bsearch.3.html#SYNOPSIS"></a>SYNOPSIS  &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <a href="bsearch.3.html#top_of_page"><span class="top-link">top</span></a></h2><pre>
       <b>#include &lt;stdlib.h&gt;</b>

       <b>void *bsearch(const void *</b><i>key</i><b>, const void *</b><i>base</i><b>,</b>
                     <b>size_t </b><i>nmemb</i><b>, size_t </b><i>size</i><b>,</b>
                     <b>int (*</b><i>compar</i><b>)(const void *, const void *));</b>
</pre>
<h2><a id="DESCRIPTION" href="bsearch.3.html#DESCRIPTION"></a>DESCRIPTION  &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <a href="bsearch.3.html#top_of_page"><span class="top-link">top</span></a></h2><pre>
       The <b>bsearch</b>() function searches an array of <i>nmemb</i> objects, the
       initial member of which is pointed to by <i>base</i>, for a member that
       matches the object pointed to by <i>key</i>.  The size of each member of the
       array is specified by <i>size</i>.

       The contents of the array should be in ascending sorted order
       according to the comparison function referenced by <i>compar</i>.  The
       <i>compar</i> routine is expected to have two arguments which point to the
       <i>key</i> object and to an array member, in that order, and should return
       an integer less than, equal to, or greater than zero if the <i>key</i>
       object is found, respectively, to be less than, to match, or be
       greater than the array member.
</pre>
<h2><a id="RETURN_VALUE" href="bsearch.3.html#RETURN_VALUE"></a>RETURN VALUE  &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <a href="bsearch.3.html#top_of_page"><span class="top-link">top</span></a></h2><pre>
       The <b>bsearch</b>() 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.
</pre>
<h2><a id="ATTRIBUTES" href="bsearch.3.html#ATTRIBUTES"></a>ATTRIBUTES  &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <a href="bsearch.3.html#top_of_page"><span class="top-link">top</span></a></h2><pre>
       For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see
       <a href="../man7/attributes.7.html">attributes(7)</a>.

       ┌──────────┬───────────────┬─────────┐
       │<b>Interface </b>│ <b>Attribute     </b>│ <b>Value   </b>│
       ├──────────┼───────────────┼─────────┤
       │<b>bsearch</b>() │ Thread safety │ MT-Safe │
       └──────────┴───────────────┴─────────┘
</pre>
<h2><a id="CONFORMING_TO" href="bsearch.3.html#CONFORMING_TO"></a>CONFORMING TO  &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <a href="bsearch.3.html#top_of_page"><span class="top-link">top</span></a></h2><pre>
       POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008, C89, C99, SVr4, 4.3BSD.
</pre>
<h2><a id="EXAMPLE" href="bsearch.3.html#EXAMPLE"></a>EXAMPLE  &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <a href="bsearch.3.html#top_of_page"><span class="top-link">top</span></a></h2><pre>
       The example below first sorts an array of structures using <a href="qsort.3.html">qsort(3)</a>,
       then retrieves desired elements using <b>bsearch</b>().

       #include &lt;stdio.h&gt;
       #include &lt;stdlib.h&gt;
       #include &lt;string.h&gt;

       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-&gt;name, mi2-&gt;name);
       }

       int
       main(int argc, char **argv)
       {
           int i;

           qsort(months, nr_of_months, sizeof(struct mi), compmi);
           for (i = 1; i &lt; argc; i++) {
               struct mi key, *res;
               key.name = argv[i];
               res = bsearch(&amp;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-&gt;name, res-&gt;nr);
           }
           exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
       }
</pre>
<h2><a id="SEE_ALSO" href="bsearch.3.html#SEE_ALSO"></a>SEE ALSO  &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <a href="bsearch.3.html#top_of_page"><span class="top-link">top</span></a></h2><pre>
       <a href="hsearch.3.html">hsearch(3)</a>, <a href="lsearch.3.html">lsearch(3)</a>, <a href="qsort.3.html">qsort(3)</a>, <a href="tsearch.3.html">tsearch(3)</a>
</pre>
<h2><a id="COLOPHON" href="bsearch.3.html#COLOPHON"></a>COLOPHON  &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <a href="bsearch.3.html#top_of_page"><span class="top-link">top</span></a></h2><pre>
       This page is part of release 4.15 of the Linux <i>man-pages</i> project.  A
       description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
       latest version of this page, can be found at
       <a href="https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/">https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/</a>.

<span class="footline">                                 2017-09-15                       BSEARCH(3)</span>
</pre>

<hr class="end-man-text" />
<p>Pages that refer to this page: 
    <a href="hsearch.3.html">hsearch(3)</a>,&nbsp; 
    <a href="lsearch.3.html">lsearch(3)</a>,&nbsp; 
    <a href="qsort.3.html">qsort(3)</a>,&nbsp; 
    <a href="tsearch.3.html">tsearch(3)</a>
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