README.md

Exercise binary_search

Write a generic function binary_search() that uses the binary search algorithm to search a sorted array for a given key (like C bsearch() function does) void *binary_search(const void *key, const void *base, size_t num_elem, size_t elem_size, int (*compar)(const void *, const void *));

Where:

• key: pointer to the object to search
• base: pointer to the first element of the input array
• num_elem: number of elements of the input array
• elem_size: number of bytes taken by each element of the array
• compar: pointer to a comparison function which takes a pointer to the key object as 1st argument and to an array element as 2nd argument, and returns an integer < 0, == 0, or > 0 if the key object is, respectively, <, ==, or > the array element

Returns a pointer to a matching element of the array, or NULL if no match is found

Implementation

Implemented as a cast from generic type to unsigned char to work on it as bytes.

Implementation of generic binary search

void *binary_search(const void *key, const void *base, size_t num_elem, size_t elem_size, int (*compar)(const void *, const void *))
{
    assert(key != NULL);
    assert(base != NULL);
    assert(compar != NULL);

    int lo = 0;
    int hi = num_elem - 1;

    const unsigned char *temp_key = key;
    const unsigned char *array = base;

    while (lo <= hi)
    {
        int mid = (lo + hi) / 2;
        if (compar(temp_key, &(array[mid * elem_size])) < 0)
            hi = mid - 1;
        else if (compar(temp_key, &(array[mid * elem_size])) > 0)
            lo = mid + 1;
        else
            return (void *)&array[mid * elem_size];
    }
    return NULL;
}