What are the different searching techniques in C language?


Searching technique refers to finding a key element among the list of elements.

  • If the given element is present in the list, then the searching process is said to be successful.

  • If the given element is not present in the list, then the searching process is said to be unsuccessful.

C language provides two types of searching techniques. They are as follows −

  • Linear search
  • Binary search

Linear Search

  • Searching for the key element is done in a linear fashion.
  • It is the simplest searching technique.
  • It does not expect the list to be sorted.
  • Limitation − It consumes more time and reduce the power of system.

Input (i/p)

Unsorted list of elements, key.

Output (o/p)

  • Success − If key is found.
  • Unsuccessful − Otherwise.

Example

Following is the C program for linear searching technique −

 Live Demo

#include<stdio.h>
int main (){
   int a[50], n, i, key, flag = 0;
   printf("enter the no: of elements");
   scanf ("%d",&n);
   printf("enter the elements:
");    for (i=0; i<n; i++)       scanf( "%d", &a[i]);    printf("enter a key element:
");    scanf ("%d", &key);    for (i=0; i<n; i++){       if (a[i] == key){          flag = 1;          break;       }    }    if (flag == 1)       printf("search is successful:");    else       printf("search is unsuccessfull:");    return 0; }

Output

When the above program is executed, it produces the following result −

enter the no: of elements5
enter the elements:12
45
13
67
78
enter a key element:67
search is successful:

Updated on: 11-Mar-2021

8K+ Views

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