Array.BinarySearch(Of T) Method (T(), T, IComparer(Of T))
[ This article is for Windows Phone 8 developers. If you’re developing for Windows 10, see the latest documentation. ]
Searches an entire one-dimensional sorted Array for a value using the specified IComparer(Of T) generic interface.
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
'Declaration Public Shared Function BinarySearch(Of T) ( _ array As T(), _ value As T, _ comparer As IComparer(Of T) _ ) As Integer
Type Parameters
- T
The type of the elements of the array.
Parameters
- array
- Type:
T
()
The sorted one-dimensional, zero-based Array to search.
- value
- Type: T
The object to search for.
- comparer
- Type: System.Collections.Generic.IComparer(Of T)
The IComparer(Of T) implementation to use when comparing elements.
-or-
Nothing to use the IComparable(Of T) implementation of each element.
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 Nothing. |
| ArgumentException | comparer is Nothing, and value is of a type that is not compatible with the elements of array. |
| InvalidOperationException | comparer is Nothing, value does not implement the IComparable(Of T) generic interface, and the search encounters an element that does not implement the IComparable(Of T) generic interface. |
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.
The comparer customizes how the elements are compared.
If comparer is not Nothing, the elements of array are compared to the specified value using the specified IComparer(Of T) generic interface implementation. The elements of array must already be sorted in increasing value according to the sort order defined by comparer; otherwise, the result might be incorrect.
If comparer is Nothing, the comparison is done using the IComparable(Of T) generic interface implementation provided by the element itself or by the specified value. The elements of array must already be sorted in increasing value according to the sort order defined by the IComparable(Of T) implementation; otherwise, the result might be incorrect.
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If comparer is Nothing and value does not implement the IComparable(Of T) generic interface, the elements of array are not tested for IComparable(Of T) before the search begins. An exception is thrown if the search encounters an element that does not implement IComparable(Of 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.
Nothing can always be compared with any other reference type; therefore, comparisons with Nothing do not generate an exception. When sorting, Nothing is considered to be less than any other object.
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For every element tested, value is passed to the appropriate IComparable(Of T) implementation, even if value is Nothing. That is, the IComparable(Of T) implementation determines how a given element compares to Nothing. |
This method is an O(log n) operation, where n is the Length of array.
The following code example demonstrates the Sort(Of T)(T(), IComparer(Of T)) generic method overload and the BinarySearch(Of T)(T(), T, IComparer(Of T)) generic method overload.
The code example defines an alternative comparer for strings, named ReverseCompare, which implements the IComparer<string> (IComparer(Of String) in Visual Basic, IComparer<String^> in Visual C++) generic interface. The comparer calls the CompareTo(String) method, reversing the order of the comparands so that the strings sort high-to-low instead of low-to-high.
The array is displayed, sorted, and displayed again. Arrays must be sorted in order to use the BinarySearch method.
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The calls to the Sort(Of T)(T(), IComparer(Of T)) and BinarySearch(Of T)(T(), T, IComparer(Of T)) 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. |
The BinarySearch(Of T)(T(), T, IComparer(Of 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(Of T)(T(), T, IComparer(Of T)) 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.
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To run this example, see Building examples that have static TextBlock controls for Windows Phone 8. |
Imports System.Collections.Generic Public Class ReverseComparer Implements IComparer(Of String) Public Function Compare(ByVal x As String, _ ByVal y As String) As Integer _ Implements IComparer(Of String).Compare ' Compare y and x in reverse order. Return y.CompareTo(x) End Function End Class Public Class Example Public Shared Sub Demo(ByVal outputBlock As System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock) Dim dinosaurs() As String = { _ "Pachycephalosaurus", _ "Amargasaurus", _ "Tyrannosaurus", _ "Mamenchisaurus", _ "Deinonychus", _ "Edmontosaurus"} outputBlock.Text &= vbCrLf For Each dinosaur As String In dinosaurs outputBlock.Text &= dinosaur & vbCrLf Next Dim rc As New ReverseComparer() outputBlock.Text &= vbLf & "Sort" & vbCrLf Array.Sort(dinosaurs, rc) outputBlock.Text &= vbCrLf For Each dinosaur As String In dinosaurs outputBlock.Text &= dinosaur & vbCrLf Next outputBlock.Text &= vbLf & _ "BinarySearch for 'Coelophysis':" & vbCrLf Dim index As Integer = _ Array.BinarySearch(dinosaurs, "Coelophysis", rc) ShowWhere(outputBlock, dinosaurs, index) outputBlock.Text &= vbLf & _ "BinarySearch for 'Tyrannosaurus':" & vbCrLf index = Array.BinarySearch(dinosaurs, "Tyrannosaurus", rc) ShowWhere(outputBlock, dinosaurs, index) End Sub Private Shared Sub ShowWhere(Of T) _ (ByVal outputBlock As System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock, ByVal array() As T, ByVal index As Integer) If index < 0 Then ' If the index is negative, it represents the bitwise ' complement of the next larger element in the array. ' index = index Xor -1 outputBlock.Text &= "Not found. Sorts between: " If index = 0 Then outputBlock.Text &= "beginning of array and " Else outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("{0} and ", array(index - 1)) End If If index = array.Length Then outputBlock.Text &= "end of array." & vbCrLf Else outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("{0}.", array(index)) & vbCrLf End If Else outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("Found at index {0}.", index) & vbCrLf End If End Sub End Class ' This code example produces the following output: ' 'Pachycephalosaurus 'Amargasaurus 'Tyrannosaurus 'Mamenchisaurus 'Deinonychus 'Edmontosaurus ' 'Sort ' 'Tyrannosaurus 'Pachycephalosaurus 'Mamenchisaurus 'Edmontosaurus 'Deinonychus 'Amargasaurus ' 'BinarySearch for 'Coelophysis': 'Not found. Sorts between: Deinonychus and Amargasaurus. ' 'BinarySearch for 'Tyrannosaurus': 'Found at index 0.
Note: