Simplest search. Simply scan a list (array, vector) for a matching element:

What is the complexity for:
- Successful search?
- Failed search?
Example: (github)
// C++ code to linearly search x in arr[]. If x
// is present then return its location, otherwise
// return -1
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int search(int arr[], int N, int x)
{
int i;
for (i = 0; i < N; i++)
if (arr[i] == x)
return i;
return -1;
}
// Driver's code
int main(void)
{
int arr[] = { 2, 3, 4, 10, 40 };
int x = 10;
int N = sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]);
// Function call
int result = search(arr, N, x);
(result == -1)
? cout << "Element is not present in array"
: cout << "Element is present at index " << result;
return 0;
}
