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fix(BinarySearch): add null key check to prevent NPE (fix #7356) #7357

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Merged
DenizAltunkapan merged 2 commits into from
Apr 1, 2026
+8 −1
Merged

fix(BinarySearch): add null key check to prevent NPE (fix #7356) #7357

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091ef22
fix(BinarySearch): add null key check to prevent NPE
Senrian Apr 1, 2026
e13bf32
Merge branch 'master' into fix/binary-search-null-key-handling
DenizAltunkapan Apr 1, 2026
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9 changes: 8 additions & 1 deletion src/main/java/com/thealgorithms/searches/BinarySearch.java
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -58,11 +58,18 @@ class BinarySearch implements SearchAlgorithm {
*/
@Override
public <T extends Comparable<T>> int find(T[] array, T key) {
// Handle edge case: empty array
// Handle edge case: null or empty array
if (array == null || array.length == 0) {
return -1;
}

// Handle edge case: null key
// Searching for null in an array of Comparables is undefined behavior
// Return -1 to indicate not found rather than throwing NPE
if (key == null) {
return -1;
}

// Delegate to the core search implementation
return search(array, key, 0, array.length - 1);
}
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