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Algorithms & data structures

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Algorithms & data structures medium

How to Search a Rotated Sorted List in Python

Binary search a pivot-rotated sorted list for a target value and return its index in O(log n) time.

binary-search rotated-array search-algorithm
Python
from typing import List

def search_rotated(nums: List[int], target: int) -> int:
    left, right = 0, len(nums) - 1

    while left <= right:
        mid = (left + right) // 2
        if nums[mid] == target:
            return mid

        # left half is sorted
        if nums[left] <= nums[mid]:
            if nums[…
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