#include <stdlib.h> void *bsearch(const void *key, const void *base, size_t nmemb, size_t size, int (*compar)(const void *, const void *));
The contents of the array should be in ascending sorted order according to the comparison function referenced by compar. The compar routine is expected to have two arguments which point to the key object and to an array member, in that order, and should return an integer less than, equal to, or greater than zero if the key object is found, respectively, to be less than, to match, or be greater than the array member.
#include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <string.h> struct mi { int nr; char *name; } months[] = { { 1, "jan" }, { 2, "feb" }, { 3, "mar" }, { 4, "apr" }, { 5, "may" }, { 6, "jun" }, { 7, "jul" }, { 8, "aug" }, { 9, "sep" }, {10, "oct" }, {11, "nov" }, {12, "dec" } }; #define nr_of_months (sizeof(months)/sizeof(struct mi)) static int compmi(const void *m1, const void *m2) { struct mi *mi1 = (struct mi *) m1; struct mi *mi2 = (struct mi *) m2; return strcmp(mi1->name, mi2->name); } int main(int argc, char **argv) { int i; qsort(months, nr_of_months, sizeof(struct mi), compmi); for (i = 1; i < argc; i++) { struct mi key, *res; key.name = argv[i]; res = bsearch(&key, months, nr_of_months, sizeof(struct mi), compmi); if (res == NULL) printf("'%s': unknown month\n", argv[i]); else printf("%s: month #%d\n", res->name, res->nr); } exit(EXIT_SUCCESS); }