Parameters

array

The sorted one-dimensional Array to search.

index

The starting index of the range to search.

length

The length of the range to search.

value

The object to search for.

Returns

The index of the specified value in the specified array, if value is found. If value is not found and value is less than one or more elements in array, a negative number which is the bitwise complement of the index of the first element that is larger than value. If value is not found and value is greater than any of the elements in array, a negative number which is the bitwise complement of (the index of the last element plus 1).

Exceptions

Type	Reason
ArgumentNullException	array is null .
RankException	array has more than one dimension.
ArgumentOutOfRangeException	index < array.GetLowerBound(0). -or- length < 0.
ArgumentException	index and length do not specify a valid range in array (i.e. index + length > array.GetLowerBound(0) + array.Length). -or- array.UpperBound == int.MaxValue.
InvalidOperationException	Either value or at least one element of array does not implement the IComparable interface.

Remarks

This method does not support searching arrays that contain negative indexes. array must be sorted before calling this method.

If the Array does not contain the specified value, the method returns a negative integer. You can apply the bitwise complement operator (~ in C#, Not in Visual Basic) to the negative result to produce an index. If this index is one greater than the upper bound of the array, there are no elements larger than value in the array. Otherwise, it is the index of the first element that is larger than value.

Either value or every element of array must implement the IComparable interface, which is used for comparisons. The elements of array must already be sorted in increasing value according to the sort order defined by the IComparable implementation; otherwise, the result might be incorrect.

Note:

If value does not implement the IComparable interface, the elements of array are not tested for IComparable before the search begins. An exception is thrown if the search encounters an element that does not implement IComparable.

Duplicate elements are allowed. If the Array contains more than one element equal to value, the method returns the index of only one of the occurrences, and not necessarily the first one.

null can always be compared with any other reference type; therefore, comparisons with null do not generate an exception.

Note:

   For every element tested, value is passed to the appropriate IComparable implementation, even if value is null. That is, the IComparable implementation determines how a given element compares to null.

This method is an O(log n) operation, where n is length.

Requirements