lsearch(3) — Linux manual page

lsearch(3)              Library Functions Manual              lsearch(3)

NAME         top

       lfind, lsearch - linear search of an array

LIBRARY         top

       Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS         top

       #include <search.h>

       void *lfind(const void key[.size], const void base[.size * .nmemb],
                   size_t *nmemb, size_t size,
                   int(*compar)(const void [.size], const void [.size]));
       void *lsearch(const void key[.size], void base[.size * .nmemb],
                   size_t *nmemb, size_t size,
                   int(*compar)(const void [.size], const void [.size]));

DESCRIPTION         top

       lfind() and lsearch() perform a linear search for key in the
       array base which has *nmemb elements of size bytes each.  The
       comparison function referenced by compar is expected to have two
       arguments which point to the key object and to an array member,
       in that order, and which returns zero if the key object matches
       the array member, and nonzero otherwise.

       If lsearch() does not find a matching element, then the key
       object is inserted at the end of the table, and *nmemb is
       incremented.  In particular, one should know that a matching
       element exists, or that more room is available.

RETURN VALUE         top

       lfind() returns a pointer to a matching member of the array, or
       NULL if no match is found.  lsearch() returns a pointer to a
       matching member of the array, or to the newly added member if no
       match is found.

ATTRIBUTES         top

       For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see
       attributes(7).
       ┌─────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┬─────────┐
       │ Interface                           │ Attribute     │ Value   │
       ├─────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────┤
       │ lfind(), lsearch()                  │ Thread safety │ MT-Safe │
       └─────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┴─────────┘

STANDARDS         top

       POSIX.1-2008.

HISTORY         top

       POSIX.1-2001, SVr4, 4.3BSD.  libc-4.6.27.

BUGS         top

       The naming is unfortunate.

SEE ALSO         top

       bsearch(3), hsearch(3), tsearch(3)

COLOPHON         top

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Linux man-pages 6.9.1          2024-05-02                     lsearch(3)

Pages that refer to this page: bsearch(3),  hsearch(3),  tsearch(3)

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