Binary Search in Array
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05-07-2019 - |
Question
How would I implement a binary search using just an array?
Solution
Ensure that your array is sorted since this is the crux of a binary search.
Any indexed/random-access data structure can be binary searched. So when you say using "just an array", I would say arrays are the most basic/common data structure that a binary search is employed on.
You can do it recursively (easiest) or iteratively. Time complexity of a binary search is O(log N) which is considerably faster than a linear search of checking each element at O(N). Here are some examples from Wikipedia: Binary Search Algorithm:
Recursive:
BinarySearch(A[0..N-1], value, low, high) {
if (high < low)
return -1 // not found
mid = low + ((high - low) / 2)
if (A[mid] > value)
return BinarySearch(A, value, low, mid-1)
else if (A[mid] < value)
return BinarySearch(A, value, mid+1, high)
else
return mid // found
}
Iterative:
BinarySearch(A[0..N-1], value) {
low = 0
high = N - 1
while (low <= high) {
mid = low + ((high - low) / 2)
if (A[mid] > value)
high = mid - 1
else if (A[mid] < value)
low = mid + 1
else
return mid // found
}
return -1 // not found
}
OTHER TIPS
It depends if you have repetition of one element in your array or no and if you care about multiple findings or not. I have two methods in this implementation. One of them returns only first finding, but the other one returns all findings of the key.
import java.util.Arrays;
public class BinarySearchExample {
//Find one occurrence
public static int indexOf(int[] a, int key) {
int lo = 0;
int hi = a.length - 1;
while (lo <= hi) {
// Key is in a[lo..hi] or not present.
int mid = lo + (hi - lo) / 2;
if (key < a[mid]) hi = mid - 1;
else if (key > a[mid]) lo = mid + 1;
else return mid;
}
return -1;
}
//Find all occurrence
public static void PrintIndicesForValue(int[] numbers, int target) {
if (numbers == null)
return;
int low = 0, high = numbers.length - 1;
// get the start index of target number
int startIndex = -1;
while (low <= high) {
int mid = (high - low) / 2 + low;
if (numbers[mid] > target) {
high = mid - 1;
} else if (numbers[mid] == target) {
startIndex = mid;
high = mid - 1;
} else
low = mid + 1;
}
// get the end index of target number
int endIndex = -1;
low = 0;
high = numbers.length - 1;
while (low <= high) {
int mid = (high - low) / 2 + low;
if (numbers[mid] > target) {
high = mid - 1;
} else if (numbers[mid] == target) {
endIndex = mid;
low = mid + 1;
} else
low = mid + 1;
}
if (startIndex != -1 && endIndex != -1){
System.out.print("All: ");
for(int i=0; i+startIndex<=endIndex;i++){
if(i>0)
System.out.print(',');
System.out.print(i+startIndex);
}
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
// read the integers from a file
int[] arr = {23,34,12,24,266,1,3,66,78,93,22,24,25,27};
Boolean[] arrFlag = new Boolean[arr.length];
Arrays.fill(arrFlag,false);
// sort the array
Arrays.sort(arr);
//Search
System.out.print("Array: ");
for(int i=0; i<arr.length; i++)
if(i != arr.length-1){
System.out.print(arr[i]+",");
}else{
System.out.print(arr[i]);
}
System.out.println("\nOnly one: "+indexOf(arr,24));
PrintIndicesForValue(arr,24);
}
}
For more information, please visit https://github.com/m-vahidalizadeh/foundations/blob/master/src/algorithms/BinarySearchExample.java. I hope it helps.
The single comparison version is fast and concise
int bsearch_double(const double a[], int n, double v) {
int low = 0, mid;
while (n - low > 1) {
mid = low + (n - low) / 2;
if (v < a[mid]) n = mid;
else low = mid;
}
return (low < n && a[low] == v) ? low : -1;
}
Did implement below code in Java,simple and fast /** * Binary Search using Recursion * @author asharda * */ public class BinSearch {
/**
* Simplistic BInary Search using Recursion
* @param arr
* @param low
* @param high
* @param num
* @return int
*/
public int binSearch(int []arr,int low,int high,int num)
{
int mid=low+high/2;
if(num >arr[high] || num <arr[low])
{
return -1;
}
while(low<high)
{
if(num==arr[mid])
{
return mid;
}
else if(num<arr[mid])
{
return binSearch(arr,low,high-1, num);
}
else if(num>arr[mid])
{
return binSearch(arr,low+1,high, num);
}
}//end of while
return -1;
}
public static void main(String args[])
{
int arr[]= {2,4,6,8,10};
BinSearch s=new BinSearch();
int n=s.binSearch(arr, 0, arr.length-1, 10);
String result= n>1?"Number found at "+n:"Number not found";
System.out.println(result);
}
}
Binary Search in Javascript (ES6)
(If anyone needs)
Bottom-up:
function binarySearch (arr, val) {
let start = 0;
let end = arr.length - 1;
let mid;
while (start <= end) {
mid = Math.floor((start + end) / 2);
if (arr[mid] === val) {
return mid;
}
if (val < arr[mid]) {
end = mid - 1;
} else {
start = mid + 1;
}
}
return -1;
}
Recursion:
function binarySearch(arr, val, start = 0, end = arr.length - 1) {
const mid = Math.floor((start + end) / 2);
if (val === arr[mid]) {
return mid;
}
if (start >= end) {
return -1;
}
return val < arr[mid]
? binarySearch(arr, val, start, mid - 1)
: binarySearch(arr, val, mid + 1, end);
}