.\" Copyright 1993 David Metcalfe (david@prism.demon.co.uk)
.\"
+.\" %%%LICENSE_START(VERBATIM)
.\" Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
.\" manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
.\" preserved on all copies.
.\"
.\" Formatted or processed versions of this manual, if unaccompanied by
.\" the source, must acknowledge the copyright and authors of this work.
+.\" %%%LICENSE_END
.\"
.\" References consulted:
.\" Linux libc source code
.\" 386BSD man pages
.\" Modified Mon Mar 29 22:41:16 1993, David Metcalfe
.\" Modified Sat Jul 24 21:35:16 1993, Rik Faith (faith@cs.unc.edu)
-.TH BSEARCH 3 2003-11-01 "" "Linux Programmer's Manual"
+.TH BSEARCH 3 2017-09-15 "" "Linux Programmer's Manual"
.SH NAME
bsearch \- binary search of a sorted array
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.B #include <stdlib.h>
-.sp
+.PP
.BI "void *bsearch(const void *" key ", const void *" base ,
.BI " size_t " nmemb ", size_t " size ,
.BI " int (*" compar ")(const void *, const void *));"
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.BR bsearch ()
-function searches an array of \fInmemb\fP objects,
-the initial member of which is pointed to by \fIbase\fP, for a member
-that matches the object pointed to by \fIkey\fP.
+function searches an array of
+.I nmemb
+objects,
+the initial member of which is pointed to by
+.IR base ,
+for a member
+that matches the object pointed to by
+.IR key .
The size of each member
-of the array is specified by \fIsize\fP.
+of the array is specified by
+.IR size .
.PP
The contents of the array should be in ascending sorted order according
-to the comparison function referenced by \fIcompar\fP.
-The \fIcompar\fP
-routine is expected to have two arguments which point to the \fIkey\fP
+to the comparison function referenced by
+.IR compar .
+The
+.I compar
+routine is expected to have two arguments which point to the
+.I 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 \fIkey\fP object is found,
+less than, equal to, or greater than zero if the
+.I key
+object is found,
respectively, to be less than, to match, or be greater than the array
member.
.SH RETURN VALUE
array, or NULL if no match is found.
If there are multiple elements that
match the key, the element returned is unspecified.
+.SH ATTRIBUTES
+For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see
+.BR attributes (7).
+.TS
+allbox;
+lb lb lb
+l l l.
+Interface Attribute Value
+T{
+.BR bsearch ()
+T} Thread safety MT-Safe
+.TE
+.sp 1
.SH CONFORMING TO
-SVr4, 4.3BSD, POSIX.1-2001, C89, C99.
+POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008, C89, C99, SVr4, 4.3BSD.
.SH EXAMPLE
The example below first sorts an array of structures using
.BR qsort (3),
then retrieves desired elements using
.BR bsearch ().
-.sp
-.nf
+.PP
+.EX
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
}
exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}
-.fi
+.EE
.\" this example referred to in qsort.3
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR hsearch (3),