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: