Method search()

Method search

int search(string haystack, string|int needle, int|void start)
int search(array haystack, mixed needle, int|void start)
mixed search(mapping haystack, mixed needle, mixed|void start)
mixed search(object haystack, mixed needle, mixed|void start)

Description

Search for needle in haystack. Return the position of needle in haystack or -1 if not found.

If the optional argument start is present search is started at this position.

haystack can have any of the following types:

`string`	When `haystack` is a string `needle` must be a string or an int, and the first occurrence of the string or int is returned.
`array`	When `haystack` is an array, `needle` is compared only to one value at a time in `haystack`.
`mapping`	When `haystack` is a mapping, search() tries to find the index connected to the data `needle`. That is, it tries to lookup the mapping backwards. If `needle` isn't present in the mapping, zero is returned, and zero_type() will return 1 for this zero.
`object`	When `haystack` is an object implementing lfun::_search(), the result of calling lfun::_search() with `needle` will be returned. If `haystack` is an object that doesn't implement lfun::_search() it is assumed to be an Iterator, and implement Iterator()->index(), Iterator()->value(), and Iterator()->next(). search() will then start comparing elements with `==() until a match with `needle` is found. If `needle` is found `haystack` will be advanced to the element, and the iterator index will be returned. If `needle` is not found, `haystack` will be advanced to the end (and will thus evaluate to false), and a zero with zero_type 1 will be returned.

Note

If start is supplied to an iterator object without an lfun::_search(), haystack will need to implement Iterator()->set_index().

Note

For mappings and object UNDEFINED will be returned when not found. In all other cases -1 will be returned when not found.