Search Functions (The GNU C Library)

### 5.9 Search Functions ¶

This section describes library functions which perform various kinds of searching operations on strings and arrays. These functions are declared in the header file `string.h`.

Function: `void *` memchr `(const void *block, int c, size_t size)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  This function finds the first occurrence of the byte c (converted to an `unsigned char`) in the initial size bytes of the object beginning at block. The return value is a pointer to the located byte, or a null pointer if no match was found.

  In ISO C23 and later, this function is qualifier-generic: that is, it is also implemented as a function-like macro, and when the macro is used and block has a type that is a pointer to a `const`-qualified object type, `memchr` returns `const void *`. As an obsolescent feature, if the macro is suppressed the external function returns `void *` regardless. The function is also qualifier-generic in C++.

Function: `wchar_t *` wmemchr `(const wchar_t *block, wchar_t wc, size_t size)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  This function finds the first occurrence of the wide character wc in the initial size wide characters of the object beginning at block. The return value is a pointer to the located wide character, or a null pointer if no match was found.

  In ISO C23 and later, this function is qualifier-generic: that is, it is also implemented as a function-like macro, and when the macro is used and block has a type that is a pointer to a `const`-qualified object type, `wmemchr` returns `const wchar_t *`. As an obsolescent feature, if the macro is suppressed the external function returns `wchar_t *` regardless. The function is also qualifier-generic in C++.

Function: `void *` rawmemchr `(const void *block, int c)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  Often the `memchr` function is used with the knowledge that the byte c is available in the memory block specified by the parameters. But this means that the size parameter is not really needed and that the tests performed with it at runtime (to check whether the end of the block is reached) are not needed.

  The `rawmemchr` function exists for just this situation which is surprisingly frequent. The interface is similar to `memchr` except that the size parameter is missing. The function will look beyond the end of the block pointed to by block in case the programmer made an error in assuming that the byte c is present in the block. In this case the result is unspecified. Otherwise the return value is a pointer to the located byte.

  When looking for the end of a string, use `strchr`.

  This function is a GNU extension.

Function: `void *` memrchr `(const void *block, int c, size_t size)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  The function `memrchr` is like `memchr`, except that it searches backwards from the end of the block defined by block and size (instead of forwards from the front).

  This function is a GNU extension.

Function: `char *` strchr `(const char *string, int c)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  The `strchr` function finds the first occurrence of the byte c (converted to a `char`) in the string beginning at string. The return value is a pointer to the located byte, or a null pointer if no match was found.

  For example,

      strchr ("hello, world", 'l')
          ⇒ "llo, world"
      strchr ("hello, world", '?')
          ⇒ NULL

  The terminating null byte is considered to be part of the string, so you can use this function get a pointer to the end of a string by specifying zero as the value of the c argument.

  When `strchr` returns a null pointer, it does not let you know the position of the terminating null byte it has found. If you need that information, it is better (but less portable) to use `strchrnul` than to search for it a second time.

  In ISO C23 and later, this function is qualifier-generic: that is, it is also implemented as a function-like macro, and when the macro is used and string has a type that is a pointer to a `const`-qualified object type, `strchr` returns `const char *`. As an obsolescent feature, if the macro is suppressed the external function returns `char *` regardless. The function is also qualifier-generic in C++.

Function: `wchar_t *` wcschr `(const wchar_t *wstring, wchar_t wc)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  The `wcschr` function finds the first occurrence of the wide character wc in the wide string beginning at wstring. The return value is a pointer to the located wide character, or a null pointer if no match was found.

  The terminating null wide character is considered to be part of the wide string, so you can use this function get a pointer to the end of a wide string by specifying a null wide character as the value of the wc argument. It would be better (but less portable) to use `wcschrnul` in this case, though.

  In ISO C23 and later, this function is qualifier-generic: that is, it is also implemented as a function-like macro, and when the macro is used and wstring has a type that is a pointer to a `const`-qualified object type, `wcschr` returns `const wchar_t *`. As an obsolescent feature, if the macro is suppressed the external function returns `wchar_t *` regardless. The function is also qualifier-generic in C++.

Function: `char *` strchrnul `(const char *string, int c)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  `strchrnul` is the same as `strchr` except that if it does not find the byte, it returns a pointer to string’s terminating null byte rather than a null pointer.

  This function is a GNU extension.

Function: `wchar_t *` wcschrnul `(const wchar_t *wstring, wchar_t wc)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  `wcschrnul` is the same as `wcschr` except that if it does not find the wide character, it returns a pointer to the wide string’s terminating null wide character rather than a null pointer.

  This function is a GNU extension.

One useful, but unusual, use of the `strchr` function is when one wants to have a pointer pointing to the null byte terminating a string. This is often written in this way:

      s += strlen (s);

This is almost optimal but the addition operation duplicated a bit of the work already done in the `strlen` function. A better solution is this:

      s = strchr (s, '\0');

There is no restriction on the second parameter of `strchr` so it could very well also be zero. Those readers thinking very hard about this might now point out that the `strchr` function is more expensive than the `strlen` function since we have two abort criteria. This is right. But in the GNU C Library the implementation of `strchr` is optimized in a special way so that `strchr` actually is faster.

Function: `char *` strrchr `(const char *string, int c)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  The function `strrchr` is like `strchr`, except that it searches backwards from the end of the string string (instead of forwards from the front).

  For example,

      strrchr ("hello, world", 'l')
          ⇒ "ld"

  In ISO C23 and later, this function is qualifier-generic: that is, it is also implemented as a function-like macro, and when the macro is used and string has a type that is a pointer to a `const`-qualified object type, `strrchr` returns `const char *`. As an obsolescent feature, if the macro is suppressed the external function returns `char *` regardless. The function is also qualifier-generic in C++.

Function: `wchar_t *` wcsrchr `(const wchar_t *wstring, wchar_t wc)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  The function `wcsrchr` is like `wcschr`, except that it searches backwards from the end of the string wstring (instead of forwards from the front).

  In ISO C23 and later, this function is qualifier-generic: that is, it is also implemented as a function-like macro, and when the macro is used and wstring has a type that is a pointer to a `const`-qualified object type, `wcsrchr` returns `const wchar_t *`. As an obsolescent feature, if the macro is suppressed the external function returns `wchar_t *` regardless. The function is also qualifier-generic in C++.

Function: `char *` strstr `(const char *haystack, const char *needle)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  This is like `strchr`, except that it searches haystack for a substring needle rather than just a single byte. It returns a pointer into the string haystack that is the first byte of the substring, or a null pointer if no match was found. If needle is an empty string, the function returns haystack.

  For example,

      strstr ("hello, world", "l")
          ⇒ "llo, world"
      strstr ("hello, world", "wo")
          ⇒ "world"

  In ISO C23 and later, this function is qualifier-generic: that is, it is also implemented as a function-like macro, and when the macro is used and haystack has a type that is a pointer to a `const`-qualified object type, `strstr` returns `const char *`. As an obsolescent feature, if the macro is suppressed the external function returns `char *` regardless. The function is also qualifier-generic in C++.

Function: `wchar_t *` wcsstr `(const wchar_t *haystack, const wchar_t *needle)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  This is like `wcschr`, except that it searches haystack for a substring needle rather than just a single wide character. It returns a pointer into the string haystack that is the first wide character of the substring, or a null pointer if no match was found. If needle is an empty string, the function returns haystack.

  In ISO C23 and later, this function is qualifier-generic: that is, it is also implemented as a function-like macro, and when the macro is used and haystack has a type that is a pointer to a `const`-qualified object type, `wcsstr` returns `const wchar_t *`. As an obsolescent feature, if the macro is suppressed the external function returns `wchar_t *` regardless. The function is also qualifier-generic in C++.

Function: `wchar_t *` wcswcs `(const wchar_t *haystack, const wchar_t *needle)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  `wcswcs` is a deprecated alias for `wcsstr`. This is the name originally used in the X/Open Portability Guide before the Amendment 1 to ISO C90 was published.

Function: `char *` strcasestr `(const char *haystack, const char *needle)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe locale | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  This is like `strstr`, except that it ignores case in searching for the substring. Like `strcasecmp`, it is locale dependent how uppercase and lowercase characters are related, and arguments are multibyte strings.

  For example,

      strcasestr ("hello, world", "L")
          ⇒ "llo, world"
      strcasestr ("hello, World", "wo")
          ⇒ "World"

Function: `void *` memmem `(const void *haystack, size_t haystack-len,
const void *needle, size_t needle-len)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  This is like `strstr`, but needle and haystack are byte arrays rather than strings. needle-len is the length of needle and haystack-len is the length of haystack.

  This function was originally a GNU extension, but was added in POSIX.1-2024.

Function: `size_t` strspn `(const char *string, const char *skipset)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  The `strspn` (“string span”) function returns the length of the initial substring of string that consists entirely of bytes that are members of the set specified by the string skipset. The order of the bytes in skipset is not important.

  For example,

      strspn ("hello, world", "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz")
          ⇒ 5

  In a multibyte string, characters consisting of more than one byte are not treated as single entities. Each byte is treated separately. The function is not locale-dependent.

Function: `size_t` wcsspn `(const wchar_t *wstring, const wchar_t *skipset)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  The `wcsspn` (“wide character string span”) function returns the length of the initial substring of wstring that consists entirely of wide characters that are members of the set specified by the string skipset. The order of the wide characters in skipset is not important.

Function: `size_t` strcspn `(const char *string, const char *stopset)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  The `strcspn` (“string complement span”) function returns the length of the initial substring of string that consists entirely of bytes that are not members of the set specified by the string stopset. (In other words, it returns the offset of the first byte in string that is a member of the set stopset.)

  For example,

      strcspn ("hello, world", " \t\n,.;!?")
          ⇒ 5

  In a multibyte string, characters consisting of more than one byte are not treated as a single entities. Each byte is treated separately. The function is not locale-dependent.

Function: `size_t` wcscspn `(const wchar_t *wstring, const wchar_t *stopset)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  The `wcscspn` (“wide character string complement span”) function returns the length of the initial substring of wstring that consists entirely of wide characters that are not members of the set specified by the string stopset. (In other words, it returns the offset of the first wide character in string that is a member of the set stopset.)

Function: `char *` strpbrk `(const char *string, const char *stopset)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  The `strpbrk` (“string pointer break”) function is related to `strcspn`, except that it returns a pointer to the first byte in string that is a member of the set stopset instead of the length of the initial substring. It returns a null pointer if no such byte from stopset is found.

  For example,

      strpbrk ("hello, world", " \t\n,.;!?")
          ⇒ ", world"

  In a multibyte string, characters consisting of more than one byte are not treated as single entities. Each byte is treated separately. The function is not locale-dependent.

  In ISO C23 and later, this function is qualifier-generic: that is, it is also implemented as a function-like macro, and when the macro is used and string has a type that is a pointer to a `const`-qualified object type, `strpbrk` returns `const char *`. As an obsolescent feature, if the macro is suppressed the external function returns `char *` regardless. The function is also qualifier-generic in C++.

Function: `wchar_t *` wcspbrk `(const wchar_t *wstring, const wchar_t *stopset)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  The `wcspbrk` (“wide character string pointer break”) function is related to `wcscspn`, except that it returns a pointer to the first wide character in wstring that is a member of the set stopset instead of the length of the initial substring. It returns a null pointer if no such wide character from stopset is found.

  In ISO C23 and later, this function is qualifier-generic: that is, it is also implemented as a function-like macro, and when the macro is used and wstring has a type that is a pointer to a `const`-qualified object type, `wcspbrk` returns `const wchar_t *`. As an obsolescent feature, if the macro is suppressed the external function returns `wchar_t *` regardless. The function is also qualifier-generic in C++.

#### 5.9.1 Compatibility String Search Functions ¶

Function: `char *` index `(const char *string, int c)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  `index` is another name for `strchr`; they are exactly the same. New code should always use `strchr` since this name is defined in ISO C while `index` is a BSD invention which never was available on System V derived systems.

Function: `char *` rindex `(const char *string, int c)` ¶

  Preliminary: | MT-Safe | AS-Safe | AC-Safe | See POSIX Safety Concepts.

  `rindex` is another name for `strrchr`; they are exactly the same. New code should always use `strrchr` since this name is defined in ISO C while `rindex` is a BSD invention which never was available on System V derived systems.