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Try to define the find() function as inline or static (but in this case the optimizer is actually too aggressive for this example and resolves the entire function call into a constant).

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Okay, but as far as I know "inline" is just a suggestion for the compiler. Depending on the complexity of the function or the phase of the moon the compiler can choose not to inline it. I wouldn't want to rely on that for a critical piece of my performance.

True, that's what I mean with depending too much on the optimizer (in a sibling comment). But IME the threshold for inlining code is surprisingly big (which of course also has a downside: potential code bloat).

I added a little fix which prevents the compiler from discarding the result completely (just by going through __builtin_printf()):

https://godbolt.org/z/W93WrhbaE

PS: another minor tweak (make the comparison function static, so that no extra copy is included in the compiler output):

https://godbolt.org/z/5TTM4x193

`static` also allows it to optimize, and it's more of a code hygiene thing. Your original code as written unintentionally defines `find` as a function that must be preserved (as a separate function) into the compiled output, and `static` undoes that.

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