LSEARCH

Section: Linux Programmer's Manual (3)
Updated: 1999-09-27
Index Return to Main Contents

NAME

lfind, lsearch - linear search of an array

SYNOPSIS

#include <search.h>

void *lfind(const void *key, const void *base, size_t *nmemb,
         size_t size, int(*compar)(const void *, const void *));

void *lsearch(const void *key, void *base, size_t *nmemb,
         size_t size, int(*compar)(const void *, const void *));

DESCRIPTION

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 non-zero 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

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.

CONFORMING TO

SVr4, 4.3BSD, POSIX.1-2001. Present in libc since libc-4.6.27.

BUGS

The naming is unfortunate.

COLOPHON

This page is part of release 3.22 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.