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Computer Science Introduction to Algorithms Algorithms in Code Linear Search in Code

Posted by Brittney Coble
Brittney Coble
16,474 Points

Getting "Target not found in list" for target 6

Here is my code. I cannot understand why 6 produces "Target not found in list" message when calling the last verify.

def linear_search(list, target): """ Returns the index position of the target if found, else returns None. """

for i in range(0, len(list)): if list[i] == target: return i return None

def verify(index): if index is not None: print("Target found at index: ", index) else: print("Target not found in list")

numbers = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]

result = linear_search(numbers, 12) verify(result)

result = linear_search(numbers, 6) verify(result)

2 Answers

KRIS NIKOLAISEN
KRIS NIKOLAISEN
54,971 Points

The return statement exits immediately, so in linear_search anything other than the first list item (1) will return target not found. Think of return None as an else statement that will only execute once and halt the loop.

Brittney Coble
Brittney Coble
16,474 Points

Thank you! That helped.

Suhas Nukala
Suhas Nukala
2,786 Points
Suhas Nukala
Suhas Nukala
2,786 Points

Remove 'return None' in linear_search function.