Question

Discuss Linear search algorithm.

Answer 1

Linear search algorithm

• Linear search also called sequential search is a sequential method for finding a particular value in a list.
• This method checks the search element with each element in sequence until the desired element is found or the list is exhausted. In this searching algorithm, a list need not be ordered.

Pseudocode:

• Traverse the array using for loop
• In every iteration, compare the target search key value with the current value of the list.
• If the values match, display the current index and value of the array.
• If the values do not match, move on to the next array element.
• If no match is found, display the search element not found.

Example:

index	0	1	2	3	4
values	10	12	20	25	30

• To search the number 25 in the array given below, a linear search will go step by step in a sequential order starting from the first element in the given array if the search element is found that index is returned otherwise the search is continued till the last index of the array.
• In this example number 25 is found at index number 3.