-char *
-bsearch(key, base, nmemb, size, compar)
- register char *key, *base;
+/*
+ * Perform a binary search.
+ *
+ * The code below is a bit sneaky. After a comparison fails, we
+ * divide the work in half by moving either left or right. If lim
+ * is odd, moving left simply involves halving lim: e.g., when lim
+ * is 5 we look at item 2, so we change lim to 2 so that we will
+ * look at items 0 & 1. If lim is even, the same applies. If lim
+ * is odd, moving right again involes halving lim, this time moving
+ * the base up one item past p: e.g., when lim is 5 we change base
+ * to item 3 and make lim 2 so that we will look at items 3 and 4.
+ * If lim is even, however, we have to shrink it by one before
+ * halving: e.g., when lim is 4, we still looked at item 2, so we
+ * have to make lim 3, then halve, obtaining 1, so that we will only
+ * look at item 3.
+ */
+void *
+bsearch(key, base0, nmemb, size, compar)
+ register const void *key;
+ const void *base0;