How to Implement Linear Search in C?

Linear search is a very simple and basic search algorithm. In this blog on “Linear search in C”, we will implement a C Program that finds the position of an element in an array using a Linear Search Algorithm. 

We will be covering the following topics in this blog:

• What is a Linear Search?
• Approach to implement a linear search
• Implementing Linear Search in C

What is a Linear Search?

A linear search, also known as a sequential search, is a method of finding an element within a list. It checks each element of the list sequentially until a match is found or the whole list has been searched.

A simple approach to implement a linear search is

• Begin with the leftmost element of arr[] and one by one compare x with each element.

• If x matches with an element then return the index.

• If x does not match with any of the elements then return -1.

Implementing Linear Search in C

#include<stdio.h>
 
int main()
{
	int a[20],i,x,n;
	printf("How many elements?");
	scanf("%d",&n);
	
	printf("Enter array elements:n");
	for(i=0;i<n;++i)
		scanf("%d",&a[i]);
	
	printf("nEnter element to search:");
	scanf("%d",&x);
	
	for(i=0;i<n;++i)
		if(a[i]==x)
			break;
	
	if(i<n)
		printf("Element found at index %d",i);
	else
		printf("Element not found");
 
	return 0;
}

Output:

The time required to search an element using a linear search algorithm depends on the size of the list. In the best-case scenario, the element is present at the beginning of the list and in the worst-case, it is present at the end.

The time complexity of a linear search is O(n).

With this, we come to the end of this blog on ‘Linear Search in C’. I hope you found it informative.

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