Where can I get a “useful” C++ binary search algorithm?

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There is no such functions, but you can write a simple one using std::lower_bound, std::upper_bound or std::equal_range.

A simple implementation could be

template<class Iter, class T>
Iter binary_find(Iter begin, Iter end, T val)
{
    // Finds the lower bound in at most log(last - first) + 1 comparisons
    Iter i = std::lower_bound(begin, end, val);

    if (i != end && !(val < *i))
        return i; // found
    else
        return end; // not found
}

Another solution would be to use a std::set, which guarantees the ordering of the elements and provides a method iterator find(T key) that returns an iterator to the given item. However, your requirements might not be compatible with the use of a set (for example if you need to store the same element multiple times).

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