BINSRCH(3) WordNet™ Library Functions BINSRCH(3)NAME
bin_search, copyfile, replace_line, insert_line - general purpose func‐
tions for performing a binary search
SYNOPSIS
char *bin_search(char *key, FILE *fp);
void copyfile(FILE *fromfp, FILE *tofp);
char *replace_line(char *new_line, char *key, FILE *fp);
char *insert_line(char *new_line, char *key, FILE *fp);
DESCRIPTION
The WordNet library contains several general purpose functions for per‐
forming a binary search and modifying sorted files.
bin_search() is the primary binary search algorithm to search for key
as the first item on a line in the file pointed to by fp. The delim‐
iter between the key and the rest of the fields on the line, if any,
must be a space. A pointer to a static variable containing the entire
line is returned. NULL is returned if a match is not found.
The remaining functions are not used by WordNet, and are only briefly
described.
copyfile() copies the contents of one file to another.
replace_line() replaces a line in a file having searchkey key with the
contents of new_line. It returns the original line or NULL in case of
error.
insert_line() finds the proper place to insert the contents of
new_line, having searchkey key in the sorted file pointed to by fp. It
returns NULL if a line with this searchkey is already in the file.
NOTES
The maximum length of key is 1024.
The maximum line length in a file is 25K.
If there are no additional fields after the search key, the key must be
followed by at least one space before the newline character.
SEE ALSOwnintro(3), morph(3), wnsearch(3), wnutil(3), wnintro(5).
WARNINGSbinsearch() returns a pointer to a static character buffer. The
returned string should be copied by the caller if the results need to
be saved, as a subsequent call will replace the contents of the static
buffer.
WordNet 3.0 Dec 2006 BINSRCH(3)
