NAME

       lfind, lsearch - linear search of an array

LIBRARY

       Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

       #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

       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

       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

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

STANDARDS

       POSIX.1-2008.

HISTORY

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

BUGS

       The naming is unfortunate.

SEE ALSO

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

Linux man-pages 6.7                                2023-10-31                                         lsearch(3)