std::search

 

C++

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Algorithm library

Functions
Non-modifying sequence operations
all_of any_of none_of (C++11) (C++11) (C++11) for_each count count_if mismatch equal	find find_if find_if_not (C++11) find_end find_first_of adjacent_find search search_n
Modifying sequence operations
copy copy_if (C++11) copy_n (C++11) copy_backward move (C++11) move_backward (C++11) fill fill_n transform generate generate_n remove remove_if remove_copy remove_copy_if	replace replace_if replace_copy replace_copy_if swap swap_ranges iter_swap reverse reverse_copy rotate rotate_copy random_shuffle shuffle   (C++11) unique unique_copy
Partitioning operations
is_partitioned (C++11) partition partition_copy (C++11)	stable_partition partition_point (C++11)
Sorting operations (on sorted ranges)
is_sorted (C++11) is_sorted_until (C++11) sort	partial_sort partial_sort_copy stable_sort nth_element
Binary search operations (on sorted ranges)
lower_bound upper_bound	binary_search equal_range
Set operations (on sorted ranges)
merge inplace_merge includes	set_difference set_intersection set_symmetric_difference set_union
Heap operations
is_heap is_heap_until (C++11) make_heap	push_heap pop_heap sort_heap
Minimum/maximum operations
max max_element min min_element minmax (C++11) minmax_element (C++11)	lexicographical_compare is_permutation (C++11) next_permutation prev_permutation
Numeric operations
iota (C++11) accumulate inner_product	adjacent_difference partial_sum
C library
qsort	bsearch

 

Defined in header <algorithm>
template< class ForwardIterator1, class ForwardIterator2 > ForwardIterator1 search( ForwardIterator1 first, ForwardIterator1 last,                          ForwardIterator2 s_first, ForwardIterator2 s_last );	(1)
template< class ForwardIterator1, class ForwardIterator2, class BinaryPredicate > ForwardIterator1 search( ForwardIterator1 first, ForwardIterator1 last,                          ForwardIterator2 s_first, ForwardIterator2 s_last, BinaryPredicate p );	(2)

Searches for the first subsequence of elements [s_first, s_last) in the range [first, last - (s_last - s_first)). The first version uses operator== to compare the elements, the second version uses the given binary predicate p.

Parameters

first, last	-	the range of elements to examine
s_first, s_last	-	the range of elements to search for
p	-	binary predicate which returns ​true if the elements should be treated as equal. The signature of the predicate function should be equivalent to the following: bool pred(const Type1 &a, const Type2 &b); The signature does not need to have const &, but the function must not modify the objects passed to it. The types  Type1 and  Type2 must be such that objects of types ForwardIterator1 and ForwardIterator2 can be dereferenced and then implicitly converted to  Type1 and  Type2 respectively. ​

Return value

iterator to the beginning of first subsequence [s_first, s_last) in the range [first, last - (s_last - s_first)). If no such subsequence is found, last is returned.
If [s_first, s_last) is empty, first is returned. (since C++11)

Complexity

At most S*N comparisons where S = std::distance(s_first, s_last) and N = std::distance(first, last).

Possible implementation

First version
template<class ForwardIterator1, class ForwardIterator2> ForwardIterator1 search(ForwardIterator1 first, ForwardIterator1 last, ForwardIterator2 s_first, ForwardIterator2 s_last) { for (; ; ++first) { ForwardIterator1 it = first; for (ForwardIterator2 s_it = s_first; ; ++it, ++s_it) { if (s_it == s_last) { return first; } if (it == last) { return last; } if (!(*it == *s_it)) { break; } } } }
Second version
template<class ForwardIterator1, class ForwardIterator2, class BinaryPredicate> ForwardIterator1 search(ForwardIterator1 first, ForwardIterator1 last, ForwardIterator2 s_first, ForwardIterator2 s_last, BinaryPredicate p) { for (; ; ++first) { ForwardIterator1 it = first; for (ForwardIterator2 s_it = s_first; ; ++it, ++s_it) { if (s_it == s_last) { return first; } if (it == last) { return last; } if (!p(*it, *s_it)) { break; } } } }

See also

find_end	finds the last sequence of elements in a certain range (function template)
equal	determines if two sets of elements are the same (function template)
find find_if find_if_not (C++11)	finds the first element satisfying specific criteria (function template)
lexicographical_compare	returns true if one range is lexicographically less than another (function template)
mismatch	finds the first position where two ranges differ (function template)
search_n	searches for a number consecutive copies of an element in a range (function template)