freebsd man page for bsearch

BSEARCH(3)						   BSD Library Functions Manual 						BSEARCH(3)

NAME
     bsearch -- binary search of a sorted table

LIBRARY
     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
     #include <stdlib.h>

     void *
     bsearch(const void *key, const void *base, size_t nmemb, size_t size, int (*compar) (const void *, const void *));

DESCRIPTION
     The bsearch() function searches an array of nmemb objects, the initial member of which is pointed to by base, for a member that matches the
     object pointed to by key.	The size of each member of the array is specified by size.

     The contents of the array should be in ascending sorted order according to the comparison function referenced by compar.  The compar routine
     is expected to have two arguments which point to the key object and to an array member, in that order, and should return an integer less
     than, equal to, or greater than zero if the key object is found, respectively, to be less than, to match, or be greater than the array mem-
     ber.  See the int_compare sample function in qsort(3) for a comparison function that is also compatible with bsearch().

RETURN VALUES
     The bsearch() function returns a pointer to a matching member of the array, or a null pointer if no match is found.  If two members compare
     as equal, which member is matched is unspecified.

SEE ALSO
     db(3), lsearch(3), qsort(3)

STANDARDS
     The bsearch() function conforms to ISO/IEC 9899:1990 (``ISO C90'').

BSD
								 February 22, 2013							       BSD