Questions about a search algorithm or its implementation.

Related terms

• research
• locate
• seek out

Search is one of the most common and important tasks in Computer Science.

The most basic search algorithm is a linear search (also referred to as "sequential search"). Each item in a data collection is examined in sequence until the searched item is found.

If the collection in question has already been classified, one can resort to a more efficient way called binary search.

A search can become more complex when, rather than locating an instance of a specific item, we intend to locate all items that fit a particular set of criteria. A good example are database searches.

NAY

Do not use this tag for questions about using search tools within an API (e.g., Google, Bing, Facebook).

For this purpose the tags of the API in question should be used.