Binary Search in C++ Standard Template Library (STL
)
Binary search is a widely used searching algorithm that requires the array to be sorted before search is applied. The main idea behind this algorithm is to keep dividing the array in half (divide and conquer) until the element is found, or all the elements are exhausted.
It works by comparing the middle item of the array with our target, if it matches, it returns true otherwise if the middle term is greater than the target, the search is performed in the left sub-array. If the middle term is less than the target, the search is performed in the right sub-array.
The prototype for binary search is :
binary_search(startaddress, endaddress, valuetofind)
Parameters :
startaddress: the address of the first element of the array.
endaddress: the address of the next contiguous location of
the last element of the array.
valuetofind: the target value which we have to search for.
Returns :
true if an element equal to valuetofind is found, else false.
An Example for binary_search
// CPP program to implement Binary Search in Standard Template Library (STL)
#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
void show(int a[], int arraysize) {
for (int i = 0; i < arraysize; ++i)
cout << a[i] << ",";
}
int main() {
int a[] = { 1, 5, 8, 9, 6, 7, 3, 4, 2, 0 };
int asize = sizeof(a) / sizeof(a[0]);
cout << "\nThe array is : \n";
show(a, asize);
cout << "\n\nLet's say we want to search for ";
cout << "\n2 in the array So, we first sort the array";
sort(a, a + asize);
cout << "\n\nThe array after sorting is : \n";
show(a, asize);
cout << "\n\nNow, we do the binary search";
if (binary_search(a, a + 10, 2))
cout << "\nElement found in the array";
else
cout << "\nElement not found in the array";
cout << "\n\nNow, say we want to search for 10";
if (binary_search(a, a + 10, 10))
cout << "\nElement found in the array";
else
cout << "\nElement not found in the array";
return 0;
}
Output
The array is :
1,5,8,9,6,7,3,4,2,0,
Let's say we want to search for
2 in the array So, we first sort the array
The array after sorting is :
0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,
Now, we do the binary search
Element found in the array
Now, say we want to search for 10
Element not found in the array
More details on std::bsearch
in C++ STL
std::bsearch
searches for an element in a sorted array. Finds an element equal to element pointed to by key
in an array pointed to by ptr
.
If the array contains several elements that comp
would indicate as equal to the element searched for, then it is unspecified which element the function will return as the result.
Syntax :
void* bsearch( const void* key, const void* ptr, std::size_t count, std::size_t size, * comp );
Parameters :
key - element to be found
ptr - pointer to the array to examine
count - number of element in the array
size - size of each element in the array in bytes
comp - comparison function which returns a negative integer value if
the first argument is less than the second, a positive integer
value if the first argument is greater than the second and zero
if the arguments are equal.
Return value :
Pointer to the found element or null pointer if the element has not been found.
Implementing the binary predicate comp
:
// Binary predicate which returns 0 if numbers found equal
int comp(int* a, int* b) {
if (*a < *b)
return -1;
else if (*a > *b)
return 1;
// elements found equal
else
return 0;
}
Implementation
// CPP program to implement std::bsearch
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
// Binary predicate
int compare(const void* ap, const void* bp) {
// Typecasting
const int* a = (int*)ap;
const int* b = (int*)bp;
if (*a < *b)
return -1;
else if (*a > *b)
return 1;
else
return 0;
}
// Driver code
int main() {
// Given array
int arr[] = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 };
// Size of array
int ARR_SIZE = sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]);
// Element to be found
int key1 = 4;
// Calling std::bsearch
// Typecasting the returned pointer to int
int* p1 = (int*)std::bsearch(&key1, arr, ARR_SIZE, sizeof(arr[0]), compare);
// If non-zero value is returned, key is found
if (p1)
std::cout << key1 << " found at position " << (p1 - arr) << '\n';
else
std::cout << key1 << " not found\n";
// Element to be found
int key2 = 9;
// Calling std::bsearch
// Typecasting the returned pointer to int
int* p2 = (int*)std::bsearch(&key2, arr, ARR_SIZE, sizeof(arr[0]), compare);
// If non-zero value is returned, key is found
if (p2)
std::cout << key2 << " found at position " << (p2 - arr) << '\n';
else
std::cout << key2 << " not found\n";
}
Output:
4 found at position 3
9 not found
Where to use :
Binary search can be used on sorted data where a key is to be found. It can be used in cases like computing frequency of a key in a sorted list.
Why Binary Search?
Binary search is much more effective than linear search because it halves the search space at each step. This is not significant for our array of length 9. Here, linear search takes at most 9 steps and binary search takes at most 4 steps. But consider an array with 1000 elements, here linear search takes at most 1000 steps, while binary search takes at most 10 steps.
For 1 billion elements, binary search will find our key in at most 30 steps.