[java] How to merge two sorted arrays into a sorted array?

This was asked of me in an interview and this is the solution I provided:

public static int[] merge(int[] a, int[] b) {

    int[] answer = new int[a.length + b.length];
    int i = 0, j = 0, k = 0;
    while (i < a.length && j < b.length)
    {
        if (a[i] < b[j])
        {
            answer[k] = a[i];
            i++;
        }
        else
        {
            answer[k] = b[j];
            j++;
        }
        k++;
    }

    while (i < a.length)
    {
        answer[k] = a[i];
        i++;
        k++;
    }

    while (j < b.length)
    {
        answer[k] = b[j];
        j++;
        k++;
    }

    return answer;
}

Is there a more efficient way to do this?

Edit: Corrected length methods.

This question is related to java algorithm big-o mergesort

The answer is


public static int[] merge(int[] listA, int[] listB) {
        int[] mergedList = new int[ listA.length + listB.length];
        int i = 0; // Counter for listA
        int j = 0; // Counter for listB
        int k = 0; // Counter for mergedList
        while (true) {
            if (i >= listA.length && j >= listB.length) {
                break;
            }
            if (i < listA.length && j < listB.length) { // If both counters are valid.
                if (listA[i] <= listB[j]) {
                    mergedList[k] = listA[i];
                    k++;
                    i++;
                } else {
                    mergedList[k] = listB[j];
                    k++;
                    j++;
                }
            } else if (i < listA.length && j >= listB.length) { // If only A's counter is valid.
                mergedList[k] = listA[i];
                k++;
                i++;
            } else if (i <= listA.length && j < listB.length) { // If only B's counter is valid
                mergedList[k] = listB[j];
                k++;
                j++;
            }
        }
        return mergedList;
    }

    public class Merge {

    // stably merge a[lo .. mid] with a[mid+1 .. hi] using aux[lo .. hi]
    public static void merge(Comparable[] a, Comparable[] aux, int lo, int mid, int hi) {

        // precondition: a[lo .. mid] and a[mid+1 .. hi] are sorted subarrays
        assert isSorted(a, lo, mid);
        assert isSorted(a, mid+1, hi);

        // copy to aux[]
        for (int k = lo; k <= hi; k++) {
            aux[k] = a[k]; 
        }

        // merge back to a[]
        int i = lo, j = mid+1;
        for (int k = lo; k <= hi; k++) {
            if      (i > mid)              a[k] = aux[j++];
            else if (j > hi)               a[k] = aux[i++];
            else if (less(aux[j], aux[i])) a[k] = aux[j++];
            else                           a[k] = aux[i++];
        }

        // postcondition: a[lo .. hi] is sorted
        assert isSorted(a, lo, hi);
    }

    // mergesort a[lo..hi] using auxiliary array aux[lo..hi]
    private static void sort(Comparable[] a, Comparable[] aux, int lo, int hi) {
        if (hi <= lo) return;
        int mid = lo + (hi - lo) / 2;
        sort(a, aux, lo, mid);
        sort(a, aux, mid + 1, hi);
        merge(a, aux, lo, mid, hi);
    }

    public static void sort(Comparable[] a) {
        Comparable[] aux = new Comparable[a.length];
        sort(a, aux, 0, a.length-1);
        assert isSorted(a);
    }


   /***********************************************************************
    *  Helper sorting functions
    ***********************************************************************/

    // is v < w ?
    private static boolean less(Comparable v, Comparable w) {
        return (v.compareTo(w) < 0);
    }

    // exchange a[i] and a[j]
    private static void exch(Object[] a, int i, int j) {
        Object swap = a[i];
        a[i] = a[j];
        a[j] = swap;
    }


   /***********************************************************************
    *  Check if array is sorted - useful for debugging
    ***********************************************************************/
    private static boolean isSorted(Comparable[] a) {
        return isSorted(a, 0, a.length - 1);
    }

    private static boolean isSorted(Comparable[] a, int lo, int hi) {
        for (int i = lo + 1; i <= hi; i++)
            if (less(a[i], a[i-1])) return false;
        return true;
    }


   /***********************************************************************
    *  Index mergesort
    ***********************************************************************/
    // stably merge a[lo .. mid] with a[mid+1 .. hi] using aux[lo .. hi]
    private static void merge(Comparable[] a, int[] index, int[] aux, int lo, int mid, int hi) {

        // copy to aux[]
        for (int k = lo; k <= hi; k++) {
            aux[k] = index[k]; 
        }

        // merge back to a[]
        int i = lo, j = mid+1;
        for (int k = lo; k <= hi; k++) {
            if      (i > mid)                    index[k] = aux[j++];
            else if (j > hi)                     index[k] = aux[i++];
            else if (less(a[aux[j]], a[aux[i]])) index[k] = aux[j++];
            else                                 index[k] = aux[i++];
        }
    }

    // return a permutation that gives the elements in a[] in ascending order
    // do not change the original array a[]
    public static int[] indexSort(Comparable[] a) {
        int N = a.length;
        int[] index = new int[N];
        for (int i = 0; i < N; i++)
            index[i] = i;

        int[] aux = new int[N];
        sort(a, index, aux, 0, N-1);
        return index;
    }

    // mergesort a[lo..hi] using auxiliary array aux[lo..hi]
    private static void sort(Comparable[] a, int[] index, int[] aux, int lo, int hi) {
        if (hi <= lo) return;
        int mid = lo + (hi - lo) / 2;
        sort(a, index, aux, lo, mid);
        sort(a, index, aux, mid + 1, hi);
        merge(a, index, aux, lo, mid, hi);
    }

    // print array to standard output
    private static void show(Comparable[] a) {
        for (int i = 0; i < a.length; i++) {
            StdOut.println(a[i]);
        }
    }

    // Read strings from standard input, sort them, and print.
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String[] a = StdIn.readStrings();
        Merge.sort(a);
        show(a);
    }
}

Since the question doesn't assume any specific language. Here is the solution in Python. Assuming the arrays are already sorted.

Approach 1 - using numpy arrays: import numpy

arr1 = numpy.asarray([ 1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9, 11, 14, 15, 55])
arr2 = numpy.asarray([11, 32, 43, 45, 66, 76, 88])

array = numpy.concatenate((arr1,arr2), axis=0)
array.sort()

Approach 2 - Using list, assuming lists are sorted.

list_new = list1.extend(list2)
list_new.sort()

My favorite programming language is JavaScript

function mergeSortedArrays(a, b){
    var result = [];

    var sI = 0;
    var lI = 0;
    var smallArr;
    var largeArr;
    var temp;

    if(typeof b[0] === 'undefined' || a[0]<b[0]){
        smallArr = a;
        largeArr = b;
    } else{
        smallArr = b;
        largeArr = a;
    }

    while(typeof smallArr[sI] !== 'undefined'){
        result.push(smallArr[sI]);
        sI++;

        if(smallArr[sI]>largeArr[lI] || typeof smallArr[sI] === 'undefined'){
            temp = smallArr;
            smallArr = largeArr;
            largeArr = temp;
            temp = sI;
            sI = lI;
            lI = temp;
        }
    }
    return result;
}

Maybe use System.arraycopy

public static byte[] merge(byte[] first, byte[] second){
    int len = first.length + second.length;
    byte[] full = new byte[len];
    System.arraycopy(first, 0, full, 0, first.length);
    System.arraycopy(second, 0, full, first.length, second.length);
    return full;
}

GallopSearch Merge: O(log(n)*log(i)) rather than O(n)

I went ahead and implemented greybeard suggestion in the comments. Mostly because I needed a highly efficient mission critical version of this code.

  • The code uses a gallopSearch which is O(log(i)) where i is the distance from the current index the relevant index exists.
  • The code uses a binarySearch for after the gallop search has identified the proper,range. Since gallop limited this to a smaller range the resulting binarySearch is also O(log(i))
  • The gallop and merge are performed backwards. This doesn't seem mission critical but it allows in place merging of arrays. If one of your arrays has enough room to store the results values, you can simply use it as the merging array and the results array. You must specify the valid range within the array in such a case.
  • It does not require memory allocation in that case (big savings in critical operations). It simply makes sure it doesn't and cannot overwrite any unprocessed values (which can only be done backwards). In fact, you use the same array for both of the inputs and the results. It will suffer no ill effects.
  • I consistently used Integer.compare() so this could be switched out for other purposes.
  • There's some chance I might have goofed a little and not utilized information I have previously proven. Such as binary searching into a range of two values, for which one value was already checked. There might also be a better way to state the main loop, the flipping c value wouldn't be needed if they were combined into two operations in sequence. Since you know you will do one then the other everytime. There's room for for some polish.

This should be the most efficient way to do this, with time complexity of O(log(n)*log(i)) rather than O(n). And worst case time complexity of O(n). If your arrays are clumpy and have long strings of values together, this will dwarf any other way to do it, otherwise it'll just be better than them.

It has two read values at the ends of the merging array and the write value within the results array. After finding out which is end value is less, it does a gallop search into that array. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc. When it finds the range where the the other array's read value is bigger. It binary searches into that range (cuts the range in half, search the correct half, repeat until single value). Then it array copies those values into the write position. Keeping in mind that the copy is, by necessity, moved such that it cannot overwrite the same values from the either reading array (which means the write array and read array can be the same). It then performs the same operation for the other array which is now known to be less than the new read value of the other array.

static public int gallopSearch(int current, int[] array, int v) {
    int d = 1;
    int seek = current - d;
    int prevIteration = seek;
    while (seek > 0) {
        if (Integer.compare(array[seek], v) <= 0) {
            break;
        }
        prevIteration = seek;
        d <<= 1;
        seek = current - d;
        if (seek < 0) {
            seek = 0;
        }
    }
    if (prevIteration != seek) {
        seek = binarySearch(array, seek, prevIteration, v);
        seek = seek >= 0 ? seek : ~seek;
    }
    return seek;
}

static public int binarySearch(int[] list, int fromIndex, int toIndex, int v) {
    int low = fromIndex;
    int high = toIndex - 1;
    while (low <= high) {
        int mid = (low + high) >>> 1;
        int midVal = list[mid];
        int cmp = Integer.compare(midVal, v);
        if (cmp < 0) {
            low = mid + 1;
        } else if (cmp > 0) {
            high = mid - 1;
        } else {
            return mid;// key found
        }
    }
    return -(low + 1);// key not found.
}

static public int[] sortedArrayMerge(int[] a, int[] b) {
    return sortedArrayMerge(null, a, a.length, b, b.length);
}

static public int[] sortedArrayMerge(int[] results, int[] a, int aRead, int b[], int bRead) {
    int write = aRead + bRead, length, gallopPos;
    if ((results == null) || (results.length < write)) {
        results = new int[write];
    }
    if (aRead > 0 && bRead > 0) {
        int c = Integer.compare(a[aRead - 1], b[bRead - 1]);
        while (aRead > 0 && bRead > 0) {
            switch (c) {
                default:
                    gallopPos = gallopSearch(aRead, a, b[bRead-1]);
                    length = (aRead - gallopPos);
                    write -= length;
                    aRead = gallopPos;
                    System.arraycopy(a, gallopPos--, results, write, length);
                    c = -1;
                    break;
                case -1:
                    gallopPos = gallopSearch(bRead, b, a[aRead-1]);
                    length = (bRead - gallopPos);
                    write -= length;
                    bRead = gallopPos;
                    System.arraycopy(b, gallopPos--, results, write, length);
                    c = 1;
                    break;
            }
        }
    }
    if (bRead > 0) {
        if (b != results) {
            System.arraycopy(b, 0, results, 0, bRead);
        }
    } else if (aRead > 0) {
        if (a != results) {
            System.arraycopy(a, 0, results, 0, aRead);
        }
    }
    return results;
}

This should be the most efficient way to do it.


Some answers had a duplicate remove ability. That'll require an O(n) algorithm because you must actually compare each item. So here's a stand-alone for that, to be applied after the fact. You can't gallop through multiple entries all the way through if you need to look at all of them, though you could gallop through the duplicates, if you had a lot of them.

static public int removeDuplicates(int[] list, int size) {
    int write = 1;
    for (int read = 1; read < size; read++) {
        if (list[read] == list[read - 1]) {
            continue;
        }
        list[write++] = list[read];
    }
    return write;
}

Update: Previous answer, not horrible code but clearly inferior to the above.

Another needless hyper-optimization. It not only invokes arraycopy for the end bits, but also for the beginning. Processing any introductory non-overlap in O(log(n)) by a binarySearch into the data. O(log(n) + n) is O(n) and in some cases the effect will be pretty pronounced especially things like where there is no overlap between the merging arrays at all.

private static int binarySearch(int[] array, int low, int high, int v) {
    high = high - 1;
    while (low <= high) {
        int mid = (low + high) >>> 1;
        int midVal = array[mid];
        if (midVal > v)
            low = mid + 1;
        else if (midVal < v)
            high = mid - 1;
        else
            return mid; // key found
    }
    return low;//traditionally, -(low + 1);  // key not found.
}

private static int[] sortedArrayMerge(int a[], int b[]) {
    int result[] = new int[a.length + b.length];
    int k, i = 0, j = 0;
    if (a[0] > b[0]) {
        k = i = binarySearch(b, 0, b.length, a[0]);
        System.arraycopy(b, 0, result, 0, i);
    } else {
        k = j = binarySearch(a, 0, a.length, b[0]);
        System.arraycopy(a, 0, result, 0, j);
    }
    while (i < a.length && j < b.length) {
        result[k++] = (a[i] < b[j]) ? a[i++] : b[j++];
    }
    if (j < b.length) {
        System.arraycopy(b, j, result, k, (b.length - j));
    } else {
        System.arraycopy(a, i, result, k, (a.length - i));
    }
    return result;
}

I think introducing the skip list for the larger sorted array can reduce the number of comparisons and can speed up the process of copying into the third array. This can be good if the array is too huge.


Here is updated function. It removes duplicates, hopefully someone will find this usable:

public static long[] merge2SortedAndRemoveDublicates(long[] a, long[] b) {
    long[] answer = new long[a.length + b.length];
    int i = 0, j = 0, k = 0;
    long tmp;
    while (i < a.length && j < b.length) {
        tmp = a[i] < b[j] ? a[i++] : b[j++];
        for ( ; i < a.length && a[i] == tmp; i++);
        for ( ; j < b.length && b[j] == tmp; j++);
        answer[k++] = tmp;
    }
    while (i < a.length) {
        tmp = a[i++];
        for ( ; i < a.length && a[i] == tmp; i++);
        answer[k++] = tmp;
    }
    while (j < b.length) {
        tmp = b[j++];
        for ( ; j < b.length && b[j] == tmp; j++);
        answer[k++] = tmp;
    }
    return Arrays.copyOf(answer, k);
}

I had to write it in javascript, here it is:

function merge(a, b) {
    var result = [];
    var ai = 0;
    var bi = 0;
    while (true) {
        if ( ai < a.length && bi < b.length) {
            if (a[ai] < b[bi]) {
                result.push(a[ai]);
                ai++;
            } else if (a[ai] > b[bi]) {
                result.push(b[bi]);
                bi++;
            } else {
                result.push(a[ai]);
                result.push(b[bi]);
                ai++;
                bi++;
            }
        } else if (ai < a.length) {
            result.push.apply(result, a.slice(ai, a.length));
            break;
        } else if (bi < b.length) {
            result.push.apply(result, b.slice(bi, b.length));
            break;
        } else {
            break;
        }
    }
    return result;
}

Here's a shortened form written in javascript:

function sort( a1, a2 ) {

    var i = 0
        , j = 0
        , l1 = a1.length
        , l2 = a2.length
        , a = [];

    while( i < l1 && j < l2 ) {

        a1[i] < a2[j] ? (a.push(a1[i]), i++) : (a.push( a2[j]), j++);
    }

    i < l1 && ( a = a.concat( a1.splice(i) ));
    j < l2 && ( a = a.concat( a2.splice(j) ));

    return a;
}

This solution also very similar to other posts except that it uses System.arrayCopy to copy the remaining array elements.

private static int[] sortedArrayMerge(int a[], int b[]) {
    int result[] = new int[a.length +b.length];
    int i =0; int j = 0;int k = 0;
    while(i<a.length && j <b.length) {
        if(a[i]<b[j]) {
            result[k++] = a[i];
            i++;
        } else {
            result[k++] = b[j];
            j++;
        }
    }
    System.arraycopy(a, i, result, k, (a.length -i));
    System.arraycopy(b, j, result, k, (b.length -j));
    return result;
}

var arr1 = [2,10,20,30,100];
var arr2 = [2,4,5,6,7,8,9];
var j = 0;
var i =0;
var newArray = [];

for(var x=0;x< (arr1.length + arr2.length);x++){
    if(arr1[i] >= arr2[j]){                //check if element arr2 is equal and less than arr1 element
        newArray.push(arr2[j]);
      j++;
    }else if(arr1[i] < arr2[j]){            //check if element arr1 index value  is less than arr2 element
        newArray.push(arr1[i]);
        i++;
    }
    else if(i == arr1.length || j < arr2.length){    // add remaining arr2 element
        newArray.push(arr2[j]);
        j++
    }else{                                                   // add remaining arr1 element
        newArray.push(arr1[i]); 
        i++
    }

}

console.log(newArray);

Any improvements that could be made would be micro-optimizations, the overall algorithm is correct.


You can use ternary operators for making the code a bit more compact

public static int[] mergeArrays(int[] a1, int[] a2) {
    int[] res = new int[a1.length + a2.length];
    int i = 0, j = 0;

    while (i < a1.length && j < a2.length) {
        res[i + j] = a1[i] < a2[j] ? a1[i++] : a2[j++];
    }

    while (i < a1.length) {
        res[i + j] = a1[i++];
    }

    while (j < a2.length) {
        res[i + j] = a2[j++];
    }

    return res;
}

Here is my java implementation that remove duplicate.

public static int[] mergesort(int[] a, int[] b) {
    int[] c = new int[a.length + b.length];
    int i = 0, j = 0, k = 0, duplicateCount = 0;

    while (i < a.length || j < b.length) {
        if (i < a.length && j < b.length) {
            if (a[i] == b[j]) {
                c[k] = a[i];
                i++;j++;duplicateCount++;
            } else {
                c[k] = a[i] < b[j] ? a[i++] : b[j++];
            }
        } else if (i < a.length) {
            c[k] = a[i++];
        } else if (j < a.length) {
            c[k] = b[j++];
        }
        k++;
    }

    return Arrays.copyOf(c, c.length - duplicateCount);
}

public static int[] mergeSorted(int[] left, int[] right) {
    System.out.println("merging " + Arrays.toString(left) + " and " + Arrays.toString(right));
    int[] merged = new int[left.length + right.length];
    int nextIndexLeft = 0;
    int nextIndexRight = 0;
    for (int i = 0; i < merged.length; i++) {
        if (nextIndexLeft >= left.length) {
            System.arraycopy(right, nextIndexRight, merged, i, right.length - nextIndexRight);
            break;
        }
        if (nextIndexRight >= right.length) {
            System.arraycopy(left, nextIndexLeft, merged, i, left.length - nextIndexLeft);
            break;
        }
        if (left[nextIndexLeft] <= right[nextIndexRight]) {
            merged[i] = left[nextIndexLeft];
            nextIndexLeft++;
            continue;
        }
        if (left[nextIndexLeft] > right[nextIndexRight]) {
            merged[i] = right[nextIndexRight];
            nextIndexRight++;
            continue;
        }
    }
    System.out.println("merged : " + Arrays.toString(merged));
    return merged;
}

Just a small different from the original solution


public static int[] merge(int[] a, int[] b) {
    int[] mergedArray = new int[(a.length + b.length)];
    int i = 0, j = 0;
    int mergedArrayIndex = 0;
    for (; i < a.length || j < b.length;) {
        if (i < a.length && j < b.length) {
            if (a[i] < b[j]) {
                mergedArray[mergedArrayIndex] = a[i];
                i++;
            } else {
                mergedArray[mergedArrayIndex] = b[j];
                j++;
            }
        } else if (i < a.length) {
            mergedArray[mergedArrayIndex] = a[i];
            i++;
        } else if (j < b.length) {
            mergedArray[mergedArrayIndex] = b[j];
            j++;
        }
        mergedArrayIndex++;
    }
    return mergedArray;
}

var arrCombo = function(arr1, arr2){
  return arr1.concat(arr2).sort(function(x, y) {
    return x - y;
  });
};

public int[] merge(int[] a, int[] b) {
    int[] result = new int[a.length + b.length];
    int aIndex, bIndex = 0;

    for (int i = 0; i < result.length; i++) {
        if (aIndex < a.length && bIndex < b.length) {
            if (a[aIndex] < b[bIndex]) {
                result[i] = a[aIndex];
                aIndex++;
            } else {
                result[i] = b[bIndex];
                bIndex++;
            }
        } else if (aIndex < a.length) {
            result[i] = a[aIndex];
            aIndex++;
        } else {
            result[i] = b[bIndex];
            bIndex++;
        }
    }

    return result;
}

import java.util.Arrays;

public class MergeTwoArrays {

    static int[] arr1=new int[]{1,3,4,5,7,7,9,11,13,15,17,19};
    static int[] arr2=new int[]{2,4,6,8,10,12,14,14,16,18,20,22};

    public static void main(String[] args){
        int FirstArrayLocation =0 ;
        int SecondArrayLocation=0;
        int[] mergeArr=new int[arr1.length + arr2.length];

        for ( int i=0; i<= arr1.length + arr2.length; i++){
            if (( FirstArrayLocation < arr1.length ) && (SecondArrayLocation < arr2.length)){
                if ( arr1[FirstArrayLocation] <= arr2[SecondArrayLocation]){
                    mergeArr[i]=arr1[FirstArrayLocation];
                    FirstArrayLocation++;
                }else{
                    mergeArr[i]=arr2[SecondArrayLocation];
                    SecondArrayLocation++;
                }
            }
            else if(SecondArrayLocation < arr2.length){
                    mergeArr[i]=arr2[SecondArrayLocation];
                    SecondArrayLocation++;
            }else if ( FirstArrayLocation < arr1.length ){
                    mergeArr[i]=arr1[FirstArrayLocation];
                    FirstArrayLocation++;
            }
        }
    }
}

You could use 2 threads to fill the resulting array, one from front, one from back.

This can work without any synchronization in the case of numbers, e.g. if each thread inserts half of the values.


I'm surprised no one has mentioned this much more cool, efficient and compact implementation:

public static int[] merge(int[] a, int[] b) {
    int[] answer = new int[a.length + b.length];
    int i = a.length - 1, j = b.length - 1, k = answer.length;

    while (k > 0)
        answer[--k] =
                (j < 0 || (i >= 0 && a[i] >= b[j])) ? a[i--] : b[j--];
    return answer;
}

Points of Interests

  1. Notice that it does same or less number of operations as any other O(n) algorithm but in literally single statement in a single while loop!
  2. If two arrays are of approximately same size then constant for O(n) is same. However if arrays are really imbalanced then versions with System.arraycopy would win because internally it can do this with single x86 assembly instruction.
  3. Notice a[i] >= b[j] instead of a[i] > b[j]. This guarantees "stability" that is defined as when elements of a and b are equal, we want elements from a before b.

Algorithm could be enhanced in many ways. For instance, it is reasonable to check, if a[m-1]<b[0] or b[n-1]<a[0]. In any of those cases, there is no need to do more comparisons. Algorithm could just copy source arrays in the resulting one in the right order.

More complicated enhancements may include searching for interleaving parts and run merge algorithm for them only. It could save up much time, when sizes of merged arrays differ in scores of times.


//How to merge two sorted arrays into a sorted array without duplicates?
//simple C Coding
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

main()
{
    int InputArray1[] ={1,4,5,7,8,9,12,13,14,17,40};
    int InputArray2[] ={4,5,11,14,15,17,18,19,112,122,122,122,122};
    int n=10;
    int OutputArray[30];
    int i=0,j=0,k=0;
    //k=OutputArray
    while(i<11 && j<13)
    {
        if(InputArray1[i]<InputArray2[j])
        {
            if (k == 0 || InputArray1[i]!= OutputArray[k-1])
            {
                OutputArray[k++] = InputArray1[i];
            }
            i=i+1;
        }
        else if(InputArray1[i]>InputArray2[j])
        {
            if (k == 0 || InputArray2[j]!= OutputArray[k-1])
            {
                OutputArray[k++] = InputArray2[j];
            }
            j=j+1;
        }
        else
        {
            if (k == 0 || InputArray1[i]!= OutputArray[k-1])
            {
                OutputArray[k++] = InputArray1[i];
            }
            i=i+1;
            j=j+1;
        }
    };
    while(i<11)
    {
        if(InputArray1[i]!= OutputArray[k-1])
            OutputArray[k++] = InputArray1[i++];
        else
            i++;
    }
    while(j<13)
    {
        if(InputArray2[j]!= OutputArray[k-1])
            OutputArray[k++] = InputArray2[j++];
        else
            j++;
    }
    for(i=0; i<k; i++)
    {
        printf("sorted data:%d\n",OutputArray[i]);
    };
}

public static int[] merge(int[] a, int[] b) {

    int[] answer = new int[a.length + b.length];
    int i = 0, j = 0, k = 0;

    while (i < a.length && j < b.length)  
       answer[k++] = a[i] < b[j] ? a[i++] :  b[j++];

    while (i < a.length)  
        answer[k++] = a[i++];

    while (j < b.length)    
        answer[k++] = b[j++];

    return answer;
}

Is a little bit more compact but exactly the same!


Apache collections supports collate method since version 4; you can do this using the collate method in:

org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils

Here quote from javadoc:

collate(Iterable<? extends O> a, Iterable<? extends O> b, Comparator<? super O> c)

Merges two sorted Collections, a and b, into a single, sorted List such that the ordering of the elements according to Comparator c is retained.

Do not re-invent the wheel! Document reference: http://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-collections/apidocs/org/apache/commons/collections4/CollectionUtils.html


To marge two sorted array in O(m+n) time complexity use below approach with one loop only. m and n is length of first array and second array.

public class MargeSortedArray {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int[] array = new int[]{1,3,4,7};
        int[] array2 = new int[]{2,5,6,8,12,45};
        int[] newarry = margeToSortedArray(array, array2);
        //newarray is marged array
    }

    // marge two sorted array with o(a+n) time complexity
    public static int[] margeToSortedArray(int[] array, int[] array2) {
        int newarrlen = array.length+array2.length;
        int[] newarr = new int[newarrlen];

        int pos1=0,pos2=0;
        int len1=array.length, len2=array2.length;

        for(int i =0;i<newarrlen;i++) {     
            if(pos1>=len1) {
                newarr[i]=array2[pos2];
                pos2++;
                continue;
            }
            if(pos2>=len2) {
                newarr[i]=array[pos1];
                pos1++;
                continue;
            }

            if(array[pos1]>array2[pos2]) {
                newarr[i]=array2[pos2];
                pos2++;
            } else {
                newarr[i]=array[pos1];
                pos1++;
            }   
        }

        return newarr;
    }

}

This problem is related to the mergesort algorithm, in which two sorted sub-arrays are combined into a single sorted sub-array. The CLRS book gives an example of the algorithm and cleans up the need for checking if the end has been reached by adding a sentinel value (something that compares and "greater than any other value") to the end of each array.

I wrote this in Python, but it should translate nicely to Java too:

def func(a, b):
    class sentinel(object):
        def __lt__(*_):
            return False

    ax, bx, c = a[:] + [sentinel()], b[:] + [sentinel()], []
    i, j = 0, 0

    for k in range(len(a) + len(b)):
        if ax[i] < bx[j]:
            c.append(ax[i])
            i += 1
        else:
            c.append(bx[j])
            j += 1

    return c

It can be done in 4 statements as below

 int a[] = {10, 20, 30};
 int b[]= {9, 14, 11};
 int res[]=new int[a.legth+b.length]; 
 System.arraycopy(a,0, res, 0, a.length); 
 System.arraycopy(b,0,res,a.length, b.length);
 Array.sort(res)


public static void main(String[] args) {
    int[] arr1 = {2,4,6,8,10,999};
    int[] arr2 = {1,3,5,9,100,1001};

    int[] arr3 = new int[arr1.length + arr2.length];

    int temp = 0;

    for (int i = 0; i < (arr3.length); i++) {
        if(temp == arr2.length){
            arr3[i] = arr1[i-temp];
        }
        else if (((i-temp)<(arr1.length)) && (arr1[i-temp] < arr2[temp])){
                arr3[i] = arr1[i-temp];
        }
        else{
            arr3[i] = arr2[temp];
            temp++;
        }
    }

    for (int i : arr3) {
        System.out.print(i + ", ");
    }
}

Output is :

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 100, 999, 1001,


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