BINSEARCHX

BINSEARCHX performs a binary search of an array for a specified key value by using a specified compare function and returns a size_t value.

Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagramBINSEARCHX( x,p,f, n, m)
x
An expression that specifies the target array that would be searched within. x must be a one-dimensional array and the elements of x must be in ascending order. If x is an array of NONVARYING BIT, it must be aligned.
p
An expression that specifies the address of the key value to be searched for.
f
An expression that specifies the function that will be invoked to perform all the required comparisons.
n
An expression that specifies the index of the first array element to be examined. It defaults to LBOUND(x).
m
An expression that specifies the number of to-be-examined array elements. The counting starts with the nth and defaults to HBOUND(x) – n + 1.
The function f must have the OPTLINK linkage and it is passed 2 POINTER BYVALUE arguments:
  • The address of an array element.
  • The address of the key value to be searched for (the value of p).
The function f must have the attributes RETURNS( BYVALUE FIXED BINARY(31) ), and it must return one of the values -1, 0 or +1:
  • If the value of the array element is less than the value of the key element, then the returned value must be -1.
  • If the value of the array element is equal to the value of the key element, then the returned value must be 0.
  • If the value of the array element is greater than the value of the key element, then the returned value must be +1.

The value returned by the BINSEARCHX built-in function itself is the relative index of the key value in this array. If the key value y is not found in the array, the returned size_t value is zero.

The relative index is the index if the array has a lower bound of 1. Therefore, the true index would be calculated as: the returned value + LBOUND(x) – 1. For example:
  • If the array x has a lower bound of 0 and upper bound of 11, then the returned value will range from 0 to 12 inclusive. If the returned value is non-zero, then the true index of the found value is the returned value minus 1.
  • If the array x has a lower bound of -12 and an upper bound of 12, then the returned value will range from 0 to 25 inclusive. If the returned value is non-zero, the true index of the found value is the returned value minus 13.