LSEARCH(S) XENIX System V LSEARCH(S)
Name
lsearch, lfind - Performs linear search and update.
Syntax
#include <stdio.h>
#include <search.h>
char *lsearch (key, base, nelp, width, compar)
char *key;
char *base;
unsigned *nelp;
unsigned width;
int (*compar)();
char *lfind (key, base, nelp, width, compar)
char *key;
char *base;
unsigned *nelp;
unsigned width;
int (*compar) ();
Description
lsearch is a linear search routine generalized from Knuth
(6.1) Algorithm Q. It returns a pointer into a table
indicating the location at which a datum may be found. If
the item does not occur, it is added at the end of the
table. The first argument is a pointer to the datum to be
located in the table. The second argument is a pointer to
the base of the table. The third argument is the address of
an integer containing the number of items in the table. It
is incremented if the item is added to the table. The
fourth argument is the width of an element in bytes. The
last argument is the name of the comparison routine. It is
called with two arguments which are pointers to the elements
being compared. The routine must return zero if the items
are equal, and nonzero otherwise.
lfind is the same as lsearch except that if the datum is not
found, it is not added to the table.
Example
This fragment of code will read _ TABSIZE strings of length
_ ELSIZE and store them in a table, eliminating duplicates:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <search.h>
#define TABSIZE 50
#define ELSIZE 120
char line[ELSIZE], tab[TABSIZE][ELSIZE], *lsearch( );
unsigned nel = 0;
int strcmp( );
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LSEARCH(S) XENIX System V LSEARCH(S)
while (fgets(line, ELSIZE, stdin) != NULL &&
nel < TABSIZE)
(void) lsearch(line, (char *)tab, &nel,
ELSIZE, strcmp);
See Also
bsearch(S), hsearch(S), qsort(S), tsearch(S)
Diagnostics
If the datum searched for is found, both lsearch and lfind
return a pointer to it. Otherwise, lfind returns NULL and
lsearch returns a pointer to the newly added element.
Notes
The pointers to the key and the element at the base of the
table should be of type pointer-to-element, and cast to type
pointer-to-character.
The comparison function need not compare every byte, so
arbitrary data may be contained in the elements in addition
to the values being compared.
Although declared as type pointer-to-character, the value
returned should be cast into type pointer-to-element
Unpredictable events can occur if there is not enough room
in the table to add a new item.
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