Question

Given:

import java.util.*;
public class Quest 
{ 
  public static void main(String[] args) { 
  String[] colors = {"blue", "red", "green", "yellow", "orange"}; 
  Arrays.sort(colors); 
   int s2 = Arrays.binarySearch(colors, "orange"); 
   int s3 = Arrays.binarySearch(colors, "violet"); 
    System.out.println(s2 + " " + s3);
}
}

The output is 2 -5. Why?

Answer 1

2 is the index of orange in the sorted array (so it is the third element).

-5 is -insertion_point – 1. The insertion point is where the key could be inserted and the array remain sorted.

http://docs.oracle.com/javase/1.5.0/docs/api/java/util/Arrays.html#binarySearch(int%5B%5D, int)