std::binary_search

 

C++

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Symbols index

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Algorithm library

Constrained algorithms and algorithms on ranges (C++20)
Constrained algorithms, e.g. ranges::copy, ranges::sort, ...
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is_execution_policy (C++17)	execution::seqexecution::parexecution::par_unseqexecution::unseq (C++17)(C++17)(C++17)(C++20)	execution::sequenced_policyexecution::parallel_policyexecution::parallel_unsequenced_policyexecution::parallel_unsequenced (C++17)(C++17)(C++17)(C++20)
Non-modifying sequence operations
all_ofany_ofnone_of (C++11)(C++11)(C++11) for_each for_each_n (C++17)	countcount_if mismatch equal adjacent_find	search search_n lexicographical_compare lexicographical_compare_three_way (C++20)	findfind_iffind_if_not (C++11) find_end find_first_of
Modifying sequence operations
copycopy_if (C++11) copy_n (C++11) copy_backward move (C++11) move_backward (C++11) shift_leftshift_right (C++20)(C++20) transform	fill fill_n generate generate_n swap iter_swap swap_ranges sample (C++17)	removeremove_if replacereplace_if reverse rotate unique random_shuffle (until C++17)	remove_copyremove_copy_if replace_copyreplace_copy_if reverse_copy rotate_copy unique_copy shuffle (C++11)
Partitioning operations
is_partitioned (C++11) partition_point (C++11)	partition partition_copy (C++11)	stable_partition
Sorting operations
is_sorted (C++11) is_sorted_until (C++11)	sort stable_sort	partial_sort partial_sort_copy	nth_element
Binary search operations
lower_bound	upper_bound	binary_search	equal_range
Set operations (on sorted ranges)
merge inplace_merge	set_difference set_intersection	set_symmetric_difference set_union	includes
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is_heap (C++11) is_heap_until (C++11)	make_heap sort_heap	push_heap pop_heap
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max max_element	min min_element	minmax (C++11) minmax_element (C++11)	clamp (C++17)
Permutations
is_permutation (C++11)	next_permutation	prev_permutation
Numeric operations
iota (C++11) inner_product adjacent_difference	accumulate reduce (C++17) transform_reduce (C++17)	transform_inclusive_scan (C++17) transform_exclusive_scan (C++17)	partial_sum inclusive_scan (C++17) exclusive_scan (C++17)
Operations on uninitialized storage
uninitialized_copy uninitialized_move (C++17) uninitialized_fill	uninitialized_copy_n (C++11) uninitialized_move_n (C++17) uninitialized_fill_n	uninitialized_default_construct (C++17) uninitialized_value_construct (C++17) uninitialized_default_construct_n (C++17) uninitialized_value_construct_n (C++17)	destroy (C++17) destroy_n (C++17) destroy_at (C++17) construct_at (C++20)
C library
qsort	bsearch

 

Defined in header <algorithm>
	(1)
template< class ForwardIt, class T > bool binary_search( ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, const T& value );			(until C++20)
template< class ForwardIt, class T > constexpr bool binary_search( ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last,                               const T& value );			(since C++20)
		(2)
template< class ForwardIt, class T, class Compare > bool binary_search( ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last,                     const T& value, Compare comp );				(until C++20)
template< class ForwardIt, class T, class Compare > constexpr bool binary_search( ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last,                               const T& value, Compare comp );				(since C++20)

Checks if an element equivalent to value appears within the range [first, last).

For std::binary_search to succeed, the range [first, last) must be at least partially ordered with respect to value, i.e. it must satisfy all of the following requirements:

• partitioned with respect to element < value or comp(element, value) (that is, all elements for which the expression is true precede all elements for which the expression is false)
• partitioned with respect to !(value < element) or !comp(value, element)
• for all elements, if element < value or comp(element, value) is true then !(value < element) or !comp(value, element) is also true

A fully-sorted range meets these criteria.

The first version uses operator< to compare the elements, the second version uses the given comparison function comp.

Parameters

first, last	-	the range of elements to examine
value	-	value to compare the elements to
comp	-	binary predicate which returns ​true if the first argument is less than (i.e. is ordered before) the second. The signature of the predicate function should be equivalent to the following:  bool pred(const Type1 &a, const Type2 &b); While the signature does not need to have const &, the function must not modify the objects passed to it and must be able to accept all values of type (possibly const) Type1 and Type2 regardless of value category (thus, Type1 & is not allowed, nor is Type1 unless for Type1 a move is equivalent to a copy (since C++11)). The types Type1 and Type2 must be such that an object of type T can be implicitly converted to both Type1 and Type2, and an object of type ForwardIt can be dereferenced and then implicitly converted to both Type1 and Type2. ​
Type requirements
- ForwardIt must meet the requirements of LegacyForwardIterator.
- Compare must meet the requirements of BinaryPredicate. It is not required to satisfy Compare.

Return value

true if an element equal to value is found, false otherwise.

Complexity

The number of comparisons performed is logarithmic in the distance between first and last (at most log
2(last - first) + O(1) comparisons). However, for non-LegacyRandomAccessIterators, number of iterator increments is linear.

Possible implementation

See also the implementations in libstdc++ and libc++.

binary_search (1)
template<class ForwardIt, class T> bool binary_search(ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, const T& value) { first = std::lower_bound(first, last, value); return (!(first == last) and !(value < *first)); }
binary_search (2)
template<class ForwardIt, class T, class Compare> bool binary_search(ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, const T& value, Compare comp) { first = std::lower_bound(first, last, value, comp); return (!(first == last) and !(comp(value, *first))); }

Example

Run this code

#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
 
int main()
{
    std::vector<int> haystack {1, 3, 4, 5, 9};
    std::vector<int> needles {1, 2, 3};
 
    for (auto needle : needles)
    {
        std::cout << "Searching for " << needle << '\n';
        if (std::binary_search(haystack.begin(), haystack.end(), needle))
            std::cout << "Found " << needle << '\n';
        else
            std::cout << "no dice!\n";
    }
}

Output:

Searching for 1
Found 1
Searching for 2
no dice!
Searching for 3
Found 3

Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.

DR	Applied to	Behavior as published	Correct behavior
LWG 270	C++98	Compare was required to satisfy Compare and T was required to be LessThanComparable (strict weak ordering required)	only a partitioning is required; heterogeneous comparisons permitted
LWG 787	C++98	at most log(last - first) + 2 comparisons were allowed	corrected to log 2(last - first) + O(1)

See also

equal_range	returns range of elements matching a specific key (function template)
lower_bound	returns an iterator to the first element not less than the given value (function template)
upper_bound	returns an iterator to the first element greater than a certain value (function template)
ranges::binary_search (C++20)	determines if an element exists in a partially-ordered range (niebloid)