Searching ranges

Phobos' std.algorithm module includes search functions that can work on any ranges. It automatically specializes based on type information. Searching a sorted range is faster than an unsorted range.

How to do it…

Searching has a number of different scenarios, each with different methods:

• If you want to know if something is present, use canFind.

• Finding an item generically can be done with the find function. It returns the remainder of the range, with the located item at the front.

• When searching for a substring in a string, you can use haystack.find(boyerMooreFinder(needle)). This uses the Boyer-Moore algorithm which may give better performance.

• If you want to know the index where the item is located, use countUntil. It returns a numeric index into the range, just like the indexOf function for strings.

• Each find function can take a predicate to customize the search operation.

• When you know your range is sorted but the type doesn't already prove it, you may call assumeSorted on it...