Question

PYTHON:

Write a recursive function named linear_search that searches a list to find a given element. If the element is in the list, the function returns the index of the first instance of the element, otherwise it returns -1000.

Sample Output

>> linear_search(72, [10, 32, 83, 2, 72, 100, 32])

4

>> linear_search(32, [10, 32, 83, 2, 72, 100, 32])

1

>> linear_search(0, [10, 32, 83, 2, 72, 100, 32])

-1000

>> linear_search('a', ['c', 'a', 'l', 'i', 'f', 'o', 'r', 'n', 'i', 'a'])

1

Use this template:

=============================================================================

def linear_search(ele, array):
"""searches the given list for the given element
INPUT:
* ele - the element
* array - the list
OUTPUT: the index of the first instance of the element in the list, or -1000 if it is not in the list.
"""

pass

Answer 1

def linear_search(ele, array):
    for i in range(len(array)):
      if array[i] == ele:
         return i
    return -1000

print(linear_search(72, [10, 32, 83, 2, 72, 100, 32]))
print(linear_search(32, [10, 32, 83, 2, 72, 100, 32]))
print(linear_search(0, [10, 32, 83, 2, 72, 100, 32]))
print(linear_search('a', ['c', 'a', 'l', 'i', 'f', 'o', 'r', 'n', 'i', 'a']))

4                                                                                                                            
1                                                                                                                            
-1000                                                                                                                        
1