In computer science, linear search or sequential search is a method for finding a particular value in a list, that consists of checking every one of its elements, one at a time and in sequence, until the desired one is found.
Linear search is the simplest search algorithm; it is a special case of brute-force search. Its worst case cost is proportional to the number of elements in the list; and so is its expected cost, if all list elements are equally likely to be searched for. Therefore, if the list has more than a few elements, other methods (such as binary search or hashing) will be faster, but they also impose additional requirements.
Read more about Linear Search: Analysis, Application
Other articles related to "search, linear search":
... is the expected number of probes in an average successful search, and the worst case is, just one more probe ... Thus binary search is a logarithmic algorithm and executes in O time ... cases it is considerably faster than a linear search ...
... In computer science, a jump search or block search refers to a search algorithm for ordered lists ... all items Lkm, where and m is the block size, until an item is found that is larger than the search key ... To find the exact position of the search key in the list a linear search is performed on the sublist L ...
... If the list is stored as an ordered array, then binary search is almost always more efficient than linear search as with n > 8, say, unless there is some reason to suppose that most searches ...
Famous quotes containing the word search:
“The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)