#searching

Binary Search

Introduction Binary search is a classic algorithm used to quickly find the position of a target value within a sorted collection. It repeatedly divides the search interval in half, discarding the half that cannot contain the target. Because of this halving behavior, binary search runs in logarithmic time: O(log n). If you are new to complexity analysis, review our guide to Big-O Notation. Also see our overview of Arrays, since binary search is most commonly applied to sorted arrays. Read more →

November 18, 2025