Linear Search Visualizer

Target:

Speed:

SlowFast

Elements:

715

(10)

Current (Examined)

Target Value

Found

Other

Operation Logs

No operations yet

Algorithm Info

Time Complexity: O(n) - checks each element once

Space Complexity: O(1) - uses constant extra space

Best Case: O(1) - target is the first element

Worst Case: O(n) - target is the last element or not found

How it works: Scans through each element sequentially from left to right until target is found or array ends.

When to use: Unsorted data, small datasets, or when you need to find all occurrences.

Implementation

function linearSearch(arr, target) {
  for (let i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
    if (arr[i] === target) {
      return i;
    }
  }
  return -1;
}