Searching algorithms are methods designed to find an item or items with specified properties within a collection of data. These algorithms are fundamental in computer science and have numerous applications, from finding records in databases to locating specific elements in arrays.

Search algorithms can be broadly classified into two categories:

• Sequential Search: Examines each element in the data structure one after another until the target is found or all elements have been checked
• Interval Search: Designed for sorted data structures and are more efficient than sequential search by repeatedly targeting the center of the search space and eliminating half of the elements at each step

The efficiency of searching algorithms is typically measured by their time complexity, which indicates how the search time increases with the size of the data. Some searches can be optimized by using specialized data structures like hash tables, which provide constant-time access on average.

Popular searching algorithms include:

• Linear Search: Checks each element sequentially until the target is found
• Binary Search: Efficiently searches sorted arrays by repeatedly dividing the search space in half
• Depth-First Search (DFS): Traverses a graph by exploring as far as possible along each branch before backtracking
• Breadth-First Search (BFS): Traverses a graph by exploring all neighbor nodes at the present depth before moving to nodes at the next depth level