lfind(3)

lfind3

Linear search of an array

Part of lsearch(3).

Usage

#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);

Library

Standard C library (libc, -lc)

Overview

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).

InterfaceAttributeValue
lfind(), lsearch()Thread safetyMT-Safe

Releases

17 releases since Debian 1.3 (Bo); the text changed 14 times.

  1. 1.3–2.1
  2. 2.2
  3. 3.0
  4. 3.1
  5. 4.0
  6. 5.0
  7. 6.0
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. Arch

Standards

POSIX.1-2008.

History

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

Bugs

The naming is unfortunate.

From man-pages 6.19-1 in Arch Linux 2026-11-01. Parsed by carta from the page's man source.