Sequential Search in C++

Sequential Search Algorithm

A sequential search, also called a linear search, is a searching algorithm with a time complexity of O(n). It searches through an array element-by-element, so its worst case is going through n elements in an array. Due to its linear searching style, sequential search is only effectively used on unsorted data because there are faster options for sorted data.

Below is a C++ implementation of a sequential search algorithm:

using namespace std;

#include<iostream>

#include<vector>

int linearSearch(vector<int> input, int value) {

for (int i = 0; i < input.size(); i++) {

if (input[i] == value) {

cout << "Found Element " << value << "\n";

return value;

}

cout << "Could not find element " << value << "\n";

return 0;

}

int main() {

vector<int> inputVector = { 100, 40, 32, 999, 300 };

linearSearch(inputVector, 999);

linearSearch(inputVector, 20); //won't find this one

}

Output:

Found Element 999

Could not find element 20

Next section: Binary Search

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