Commonly Asked Data Structure Interview Questions on Searching
Last Updated :
19 May, 2025
Searching is a fundamental concept in computer science, involving the process of finding a specific element in a collection of data. Efficient searching techniques are crucial for optimizing performance, especially when dealing with large datasets.
Theoretical Questions for Interviews on Searching
1. What is the difference between linear search and binary search?
Linear search scans through the list sequentially, while binary search works on sorted data, dividing the search space in half at each step, resulting in faster search times.
2. What is the time complexity of linear search?
Linear search has a time complexity of O(n) because it may require checking every element in the list.
3. What is the time complexity of binary search?
Binary search has a time complexity of O(log n) because it repeatedly divides the search space in half, but it requires the list to be sorted.
4. How does hash-based searching work?
Hash-based searching involves mapping keys to specific positions in a hash table using a hash function, allowing for constant-time lookups on average.
5. What are the advantages of binary search over linear search?
Binary search is much faster than linear search for large sorted datasets due to its O(log n) complexity compared to the O(n) complexity of linear search.
Read more about linear and binary search Refer, Linear Search vs Binary Search
6. What is the difference between depth-first search (DFS) and breadth-first search (BFS)?
DFS explores a graph deeply, visiting a node and its descendants first, while BFS explores level by level, visiting all neighbors before moving to the next level.
To read more about dfs and bfs Refer, BFS vs DFS for Binary Tree
7. How would you search for an element in a rotated sorted array?
A modified binary search can be used to search in a rotated sorted array, checking the middle element to decide whether to search the left or right half.
8. What is the time complexity of searching in an unsorted linked list?
Searching in an unsorted linked list has a time complexity of O(n), as every node must be checked sequentially.
9. Explain the concept of ternary search.
Ternary search is a divide-and-conquer algorithm that splits the search space into three parts instead of two, reducing the number of comparisons for unimodal functions.
10. What is interpolation search, and how does it differ from binary search?
Interpolation search estimates the position of the target element based on the value of the element, while binary search divides the array into halves without considering the element values.
Top Coding Interview Questions on Searching
The following list of 50 searching coding problems covers a range of difficulty levels, from easy to hard, to help candidates prepare for interviews.
Top 50 Searching Coding Problems for Interviews
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