11.6 Searching and Sorting

  • Searching data involves determining whether a value (referred to as the search key) is present in the data and, if so, finding its location
    • Two popular search algorithms are the simple linear search and the faster but more complex binary search
  • Sorting places data in ascending or descending order, based on one or more sort keys
  • We selection sort and insertion sort, along with the more efficient but more complex merge sort
Chapter Algorithm Location
Searching Algorithms, Functions and Methods
5 List method index Section 5.9
8 String methods count, index and rindex. Section 8.7
8 re module functions search, match, findall and finditer Section 8.12
15 Linear search Section 11.7
15 Binary search Section 11.9
15 Recursive binary search Exercise 11.18
Sorting Algorithms, Functions and Methods
5 List method sort Section 5.8
5 Built-in function sorted Section 5.8
5 Built-in function sorted with a key Exercise 5.15
7 DataFrame methods sort_index and sort_values Section 7.14
11 Selection sort Section 11.11
11 Insertion sort Section 11.12
11 Recursive merge sort Section 11.13
11 Bucket sort Exercise 11.17
11 Recursive quicksort Exercise 11.19

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