Array::BinarySearch<T> Method (array<T>, T)
Searches an entire one-dimensional sorted Array for a specific element, using the IComparable<T> generic interface implemented by each element of the Array and by the specified object.
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Type Parameters
- T
The type of the elements of the array.
Parameters
- array
- Type: array<T>
The sorted one-dimensional, zero-based Array to search.
- value
- Type: T
The object to search for.
Return Value
Type: System::Int32The index of the specified value in the specified array, if value is found. If value is not found and value is less than one or more elements in array, a negative number which is the bitwise complement of the index of the first element that is larger than value. If value is not found and value is greater than any of the elements in array, a negative number which is the bitwise complement of (the index of the last element plus 1).
| Exception | Condition |
|---|---|
| ArgumentNullException | array is nullptr. |
| InvalidOperationException | value does not implement the IComparable<T> generic interface, and the search encounters an element that does not implement the IComparable<T> generic interface. |
This method does not support searching arrays that contain negative indexes. array must be sorted before calling this method.
If the Array does not contain the specified value, the method returns a negative integer. You can apply the bitwise complement operator (~) to the negative result (in Visual Basic, Xor the negative result with -1) to produce an index. If this index is greater than or equal to the size of the array, there are no elements larger than value in the array. Otherwise, it is the index of the first element that is larger than value.
Either value or every element of array must implement the IComparable<T> generic interface, which is used for comparisons. The elements of array must already be sorted in increasing value according to the sort order defined by the IComparable<T> implementation; otherwise, the result might be incorrect.
Note |
|---|
If value does not implement the IComparable<T> generic interface, the elements of array are not tested for IComparable<T> before the search begins. An exception is thrown if the search encounters an element that does not implement IComparable<T>. |
Duplicate elements are allowed. If the Array contains more than one element equal to value, the method returns the index of only one of the occurrences, and not necessarily the first one.
nullptr can always be compared with any other reference type; therefore, comparisons with nullptr do not generate an exception. When sorting, nullptr is considered to be less than any other object.
Note |
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For every element tested, value is passed to the appropriate IComparable<T> implementation, even if value is nullptr. That is, the IComparable<T> implementation determines how a given element compares to nullptr. |
This method is an O(log n) operation, where n is the Length of array.
The following code example demonstrates the Sort<T>(array<T>) generic method overload and the BinarySearch<T>(array<T>, T) generic method overload. An array of strings is created, in no particular order.
The array is displayed, sorted, and displayed again. Arrays must be sorted in order to use the BinarySearch method.
Note |
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The calls to the Sort and BinarySearch generic methods do not look any different from calls to their nongeneric counterparts, because Visual Basic, C#, and C++ infer the type of the generic type parameter from the type of the first argument. If you use the Ildasm.exe (MSIL Disassembler) to examine the Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL), you can see that the generic methods are being called. |
The BinarySearch<T>(array<T>, T) generic method overload is then used to search for two strings, one that is not in the array and one that is. The array and the return value of the BinarySearch method are passed to the ShowWhere generic method, which displays the index value if the string is found, and otherwise the elements the search string would fall between if it were in the array. The index is negative if the string is not n the array, so the ShowWhere method takes the bitwise complement (the ~ operator in C# and Visual C++, Xor -1 in Visual Basic) to obtain the index of the first element in the list that is larger than the search string.
using namespace System; using namespace System::Collections::Generic; generic<typename T> void ShowWhere(array<T>^ arr, int index) { if (index<0) { // If the index is negative, it represents the bitwise // complement of the next larger element in the array. // index = ~index; Console::Write("Not found. Sorts between: "); if (index == 0) Console::Write("beginning of array and "); else Console::Write("{0} and ", arr[index-1]); if (index == arr->Length) Console::WriteLine("end of array."); else Console::WriteLine("{0}.", arr[index]); } else { Console::WriteLine("Found at index {0}.", index); } }; void main() { array<String^>^ dinosaurs = {"Pachycephalosaurus", "Amargasaurus", "Tyrannosaurus", "Mamenchisaurus", "Deinonychus", "Edmontosaurus"}; Console::WriteLine(); for each(String^ dinosaur in dinosaurs) { Console::WriteLine(dinosaur); } Console::WriteLine("\nSort"); Array::Sort(dinosaurs); Console::WriteLine(); for each(String^ dinosaur in dinosaurs) { Console::WriteLine(dinosaur); } Console::WriteLine("\nBinarySearch for 'Coelophysis':"); int index = Array::BinarySearch(dinosaurs, "Coelophysis"); ShowWhere(dinosaurs, index); Console::WriteLine("\nBinarySearch for 'Tyrannosaurus':"); index = Array::BinarySearch(dinosaurs, "Tyrannosaurus"); ShowWhere(dinosaurs, index); } /* This code example produces the following output: Pachycephalosaurus Amargasaurus Tyrannosaurus Mamenchisaurus Deinonychus Edmontosaurus Sort Amargasaurus Deinonychus Edmontosaurus Mamenchisaurus Pachycephalosaurus Tyrannosaurus BinarySearch for 'Coelophysis': Not found. Sorts between: Amargasaurus and Deinonychus. BinarySearch for 'Tyrannosaurus': Found at index 5. */
Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2
The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.
Note