NAME

       lfind, lsearch - linear search of an array

LIBRARY

       Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

       #include <search.h>

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

DESCRIPTION

       lfind()  and  lsearch()  perform  a linear search for key in the array base which has *n 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 *n 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 6.16                               2025-09-07                                         lsearch(3)