I got this problem from an interview with Microsoft.
Given an array of random integers, write an algorithm in C that removes duplicated numbers and return the unique numbers in the original array.
E.g Input: {4, 8, 4, 1, 1, 2, 9} Output: {4, 8, 1, 2, 9, ?, ?}
One caveat is that the expected algorithm should not required the array to be sorted first. And when an element has been removed, the following elements must be shifted forward as well. Anyway, value of elements at the tail of the array where elements were shifted forward are negligible.
Update: The result must be returned in the original array and helper data structure (e.g. hashtable) should not be used. However, I guess order preservation is not necessary.
Update2: For those who wonder why these impractical constraints, this was an interview question and all these constraints are discussed during the thinking process to see how I can come up with different ideas.
This question is related to
c
algorithm
arrays
duplicates
Simply take a variable x=arr[0] and do xor operation by traversing the rest of the elements . If an element has repeated then the x will become zero.
This way we know that the element has repeated previously . This also will just take o(n) to scan through all of the elements in the original array.
Integer[] arrayInteger = {1,2,3,4,3,2,4,6,7,8,9,9,10};
Set set = new HashSet();
for(Integer i:arrayInteger)
set.add(i);
System.out.println(set);
In JAVA,
Integer[] arrayInteger = {1,2,3,4,3,2,4,6,7,8,9,9,10};
String value ="";
for(Integer i:arrayInteger)
{
if(!value.contains(Integer.toString(i))){
value +=Integer.toString(i)+",";
}
}
String[] arraySplitToString = value.split(",");
Integer[] arrayIntResult = new Integer[arraySplitToString.length];
for(int i = 0 ; i < arraySplitToString.length ; i++){
arrayIntResult[i] = Integer.parseInt(arraySplitToString[i]);
}
output: { 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10}
hope this will help
Here is a Java Version.
int[] removeDuplicate(int[] input){
int arrayLen = input.length;
for(int i=0;i<arrayLen;i++){
for(int j = i+1; j< arrayLen ; j++){
if(((input[i]^input[j]) == 0)){
input[j] = 0;
}
if((input[j]==0) && j<arrayLen-1){
input[j] = input[j+1];
input[j+1] = 0;
}
}
}
return input;
}
One more efficient implementation
int i, j;
/* new length of modified array */
int NewLength = 1;
for(i=1; i< Length; i++){
for(j=0; j< NewLength ; j++)
{
if(array[i] == array[j])
break;
}
/* if none of the values in index[0..j] of array is not same as array[i],
then copy the current value to corresponding new position in array */
if (j==NewLength )
array[NewLength++] = array[i];
}
In this implementation there is no need for sorting the array. Also if a duplicate element is found, there is no need for shifting all elements after this by one position.
The output of this code is array[] with size NewLength
Here we are starting from the 2nd elemt in array and comparing it with all the elements in array up to this array. We are holding an extra index variable 'NewLength' for modifying the input array. NewLength variabel is initialized to 0.
Element in array[1] will be compared with array[0]. If they are different, then value in array[NewLength] will be modified with array[1] and increment NewLength. If they are same, NewLength will not be modified.
So if we have an array [1 2 1 3 1], then
In First pass of 'j' loop, array[1] (2) will be compared with array0, then 2 will be written to array[NewLength] = array[1] so array will be [1 2] since NewLength = 2
In second pass of 'j' loop, array[2] (1) will be compared with array0 and array1. Here since array[2] (1) and array0 are same loop will break here. so array will be [1 2] since NewLength = 2
and so on
Here is my solution.
///// find duplicates in an array and remove them
void unique(int* input, int n)
{
merge_sort(input, 0, n) ;
int prev = 0 ;
for(int i = 1 ; i < n ; i++)
{
if(input[i] != input[prev])
if(prev < i-1)
input[prev++] = input[i] ;
}
}
Some of the answers that are written here are pretty trivial (O(n^2) or sorting and traversing in O(NlogN)) and I'm assuming that is not what was expected in an interview for Microsoft. Obviously any answer above O(n) wasn't what they were looking for. The update states that there shouldn't be any helper data structures so any answer that has one (a hash table, tree, bit array or whatever) shouldn't be a valid solution.
If you can allocate additional memory then Jeff B's answer is probably easiest way to do it. I have a good answer for questions like these but the MAXINT needs to be bounded by the size of the array. (Example: An array of size 100 may contain any number between 1 and 100. Remove the dups as the original question)
The answer to this in O(n) time and O(1) memory is:
// FLAG ALL DUPS IN THE ORIGIN ARRAY
int maxNumInArray = findMaxNumInArray(arr);
int dup = findMinNumInArray(arr) - 1;
for (int i=0; i < arrLength; ++i) {
int seekIndex = arr[i] % (maxNumInArray+1);
if (arr[seekIndex] > maxNumInArray)
arr[i] = dup; // invalidate index
else
arr[seekIndex] = arr[seekIndex] + maxNumInArray;
}
// REMOVE EMPTY SPACES
int i = 0;
int j = arrLength(arr)-1;
while (i<j) {
while (arr[i] != dup)
++i;
while (arr[j] == dup)
--j;
swap(arr[i], arr[j]);
}
If you don't know the bounds my answer isn't useful but u can try and play with it. Oh, and this specific variation wont work with negative numbers but its not a problem to fix it.
A solution suggested by my girlfriend is a variation of merge sort. The only modification is that during the merge step, just disregard duplicated values. This solution would be as well O(n log n). In this approach, the sorting/duplication removal are combined together. However, I'm not sure if that makes any difference, though.
After review the problem, here is my delphi way, that may help
var
A: Array of Integer;
I,J,C,K, P: Integer;
begin
C:=10;
SetLength(A,10);
A[0]:=1; A[1]:=4; A[2]:=2; A[3]:=6; A[4]:=3; A[5]:=4;
A[6]:=3; A[7]:=4; A[8]:=2; A[9]:=5;
for I := 0 to C-1 do
begin
for J := I+1 to C-1 do
if A[I]=A[J] then
begin
for K := C-1 Downto J do
if A[J]<>A[k] then
begin
P:=A[K];
A[K]:=0;
A[J]:=P;
C:=K;
break;
end
else
begin
A[K]:=0;
C:=K;
end;
end;
end;
//tructate array
setlength(A,C);
end;
This can be done in one pass with an O(N log N) algorithm and no extra storage.
Proceed from element a[1] to a[N]. At each stage i, all of the elements to the left of a[i] comprise a sorted heap of elements a[0] through a[j]. Meanwhile, a second index j, initially 0, keeps track of the size of the heap.
Examine a[i] and insert it into the heap, which now occupies elements a[0] to a[j+1]. As the element is inserted, if a duplicate element a[k] is encountered having the same value, do not insert a[i] into the heap (i.e., discard it); otherwise insert it into the heap, which now grows by one element and now comprises a[0] to a[j+1], and increment j.
Continue in this manner, incrementing i until all of the array elements have been examined and inserted into the heap, which ends up occupying a[0] to a[j]. j is the index of the last element of the heap, and the heap contains only unique element values.
int algorithm(int[] a, int n)
{
int i, j;
for (j = 0, i = 1; i < n; i++)
{
// Insert a[i] into the heap a[0...j]
if (heapInsert(a, j, a[i]))
j++;
}
return j;
}
bool heapInsert(a[], int n, int val)
{
// Insert val into heap a[0...n]
...code omitted for brevity...
if (duplicate element a[k] == val)
return false;
a[k] = val;
return true;
}
Looking at the example, this is not exactly what was asked for since the resulting array preserves the original element order. But if this requirement is relaxed, the algorithm above should do the trick.
This is the naive (N*(N-1)/2) solution. It uses constant additional space and maintains the original order. It is similar to the solution by @Byju, but uses no if(){} blocks. It also avoids copying an element onto itself.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int numbers[] = {4, 8, 4, 1, 1, 2, 9};
#define COUNT (sizeof numbers / sizeof numbers[0])
size_t undup_it(int array[], size_t len)
{
size_t src,dst;
/* an array of size=1 cannot contain duplicate values */
if (len <2) return len;
/* an array of size>1 will cannot at least one unique value */
for (src=dst=1; src < len; src++) {
size_t cur;
for (cur=0; cur < dst; cur++ ) {
if (array[cur] == array[src]) break;
}
if (cur != dst) continue; /* found a duplicate */
/* array[src] must be new: add it to the list of non-duplicates */
if (dst < src) array[dst] = array[src]; /* avoid copy-to-self */
dst++;
}
return dst; /* number of valid alements in new array */
}
void print_it(int array[], size_t len)
{
size_t idx;
for (idx=0; idx < len; idx++) {
printf("%c %d", (idx) ? ',' :'{' , array[idx] );
}
printf("}\n" );
}
int main(void) {
size_t cnt = COUNT;
printf("Before undup:" );
print_it(numbers, cnt);
cnt = undup_it(numbers,cnt);
printf("After undup:" );
print_it(numbers, cnt);
return 0;
}
Use bloom filter for hashing. This will reduce the memory overhead very significantly.
An array should obviously be "traversed" right-to-left to avoid unneccessary copying of values back and forth.
If you have unlimited memory, you can allocate a bit array for sizeof(type-of-element-in-array) / 8 bytes to have each bit signify whether you've already encountered corresponding value or not.
If you don't, I can't think of anything better than traversing an array and comparing each value with values that follow it and then if duplicate is found, remove these values altogether. This is somewhere near O(n^2) (or O((n^2-n)/2)).
IBM has an article on kinda close subject.
this is what i've got, though it misplaces the order we can sort in ascending or descending to fix it up.
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void){
int x,n,myvar=0;
printf("Enter a number: \t");
scanf("%d",&n);
int arr[n],changedarr[n];
for(x=0;x<n;x++){
printf("Enter a number for array[%d]: ",x);
scanf("%d",&arr[x]);
}
printf("\nOriginal Number in an array\n");
for(x=0;x<n;x++){
printf("%d\t",arr[x]);
}
int i=0,j=0;
// printf("i\tj\tarr\tchanged\n");
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
// printf("%d\t%d\t%d\t%d\n",i,j,arr[i],changedarr[i] );
for (int j = 0; j <n; j++)
{
if (i==j)
{
continue;
}
else if(arr[i]==arr[j]){
changedarr[j]=0;
}
else{
changedarr[i]=arr[i];
}
// printf("%d\t%d\t%d\t%d\n",i,j,arr[i],changedarr[i] );
}
myvar+=1;
}
// printf("\n\nmyvar=%d\n",myvar);
int count=0;
printf("\nThe unique items:\n");
for (int i = 0; i < myvar; i++)
{
if(changedarr[i]!=0){
count+=1;
printf("%d\t",changedarr[i]);
}
}
printf("\n");
}
In Java I would solve it like this. Don't know how to write this in C.
int length = array.length;
for (int i = 0; i < length; i++)
{
for (int j = i + 1; j < length; j++)
{
if (array[i] == array[j])
{
int k, j;
for (k = j + 1, l = j; k < length; k++, l++)
{
if (array[k] != array[i])
{
array[l] = array[k];
}
else
{
l--;
}
}
length = l;
}
}
}
First, you should create an array check[n] where n is the number of elements of the array you want to make duplicate-free and set the value of every element(of the check array) equal to 1. Using a for loop traverse the array with the duplicates, say its name is arr, and in the for-loop write this :
{
if (check[arr[i]] != 1) {
arr[i] = 0;
}
else {
check[arr[i]] = 0;
}
}
With that, you set every duplicate equal to zero. So the only thing is left to do is to traverse the arr array and print everything it's not equal to zero. The order stays and it takes linear time (3*n).
How about the following?
int* temp = malloc(sizeof(int)*len);
int count = 0;
int x =0;
int y =0;
for(x=0;x<len;x++)
{
for(y=0;y<count;y++)
{
if(*(temp+y)==*(array+x))
{
break;
}
}
if(y==count)
{
*(temp+count) = *(array+x);
count++;
}
}
memcpy(array, temp, sizeof(int)*len);
I try to declare a temp array and put the elements into that before copying everything back to the original array.
Insert all the elements in a binary tree the disregards duplicates - O(nlog(n)). Then extract all of them back in the array by doing a traversal - O(n). I am assuming that you don't need order preservation.
Given an array of n elements, write an algorithm to remove all duplicates from the array in time O(nlogn)
Algorithm delete_duplicates (a[1....n])
//Remove duplicates from the given array
//input parameters :a[1:n], an array of n elements.
{
temp[1:n]; //an array of n elements.
temp[i]=a[i];for i=1 to n
temp[i].value=a[i]
temp[i].key=i
//based on 'value' sort the array temp.
//based on 'value' delete duplicate elements from temp.
//based on 'key' sort the array temp.//construct an array p using temp.
p[i]=temp[i]value
return p.
In other of elements is maintained in the output array using the 'key'. Consider the key is of length O(n), the time taken for performing sorting on the key and value is O(nlogn). So the time taken to delete all duplicates from the array is O(nlogn).
Let's see:
import java.util.ArrayList;
public class C {
public static void main(String[] args) {
int arr[] = {2,5,5,5,9,11,11,23,34,34,34,45,45};
ArrayList<Integer> arr1 = new ArrayList<Integer>();
for(int i=0;i<arr.length-1;i++){
if(arr[i] == arr[i+1]){
arr[i] = 99999;
}
}
for(int i=0;i<arr.length;i++){
if(arr[i] != 99999){
arr1.add(arr[i]);
}
}
System.out.println(arr1);
}
}
If you are looking for the superior O-notation, then sorting the array with an O(n log n) sort then doing a O(n) traversal may be the best route. Without sorting, you are looking at O(n^2).
Edit: if you are just doing integers, then you can also do radix sort to get O(n).
If you are allowed to use C++, a call to std::sort followed by a call to std::unique will give you the answer. The time complexity is O(N log N) for the sort and O(N) for the unique traversal.
And if C++ is off the table there isn't anything that keeps these same algorithms from being written in C.
The return value of the function should be the number of unique elements and they are all stored at the front of the array. Without this additional information, you won't even know if there were any duplicates.
Each iteration of the outer loop processes one element of the array. If it is unique, it stays in the front of the array and if it is a duplicate, it is overwritten by the last unprocessed element in the array. This solution runs in O(n^2) time.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
size_t rmdup(int *arr, size_t len)
{
size_t prev = 0;
size_t curr = 1;
size_t last = len - 1;
while (curr <= last) {
for (prev = 0; prev < curr && arr[curr] != arr[prev]; ++prev);
if (prev == curr) {
++curr;
} else {
arr[curr] = arr[last];
--last;
}
}
return curr;
}
void print_array(int *arr, size_t len)
{
printf("{");
size_t curr = 0;
for (curr = 0; curr < len; ++curr) {
if (curr > 0) printf(", ");
printf("%d", arr[curr]);
}
printf("}");
}
int main()
{
int arr[] = {4, 8, 4, 1, 1, 2, 9};
printf("Before: ");
size_t len = sizeof (arr) / sizeof (arr[0]);
print_array(arr, len);
len = rmdup(arr, len);
printf("\nAfter: ");
print_array(arr, len);
printf("\n");
return 0;
}
Well, it's basic implementation is quite simple. Go through all elements, check whether there are duplicates in the remaining ones and shift the rest over them.
It's terrible inefficient and you could speed it up by a helper-array for the output or sorting/binary trees, but this doesn't seem to be allowed.
The following example should solve your problem:
def check_dump(x):
if not x in t:
t.append(x)
return True
t=[]
output = filter(check_dump, input)
print(output)
True
1. Using O(1) extra space, in O(n log n) time
This is possible, for instance:
I believe ejel's partner is correct that the best way to do this would be an in-place merge sort with a simplified merge step, and that that is probably the intent of the question, if you were eg. writing a new library function to do this as efficiently as possible with no ability to improve the inputs, and there would be cases it would be useful to do so without a hash-table, depending on the sorts of inputs. But I haven't actually checked this.
2. Using O(lots) extra space, in O(n) time
This only works if several questionable assumptions hold:
It's a bad answer, but if you have LOTS of input elements, but they're all 8-bit integers (or maybe even 16-bit integers) it could be the best way.
3. O(little)-ish extra space, O(n)-ish time
As #2, but use a hash table.
4. The clear way
If the number of elements is small, writing an appropriate algorithm is not useful if other code is quicker to write and quicker to read.
Eg. Walk through the array for each unique elements (ie. the first element, the second element (duplicates of the first having been removed) etc) removing all identical elements. O(1) extra space, O(n^2) time.
Eg. Use library functions which do this. efficiency depends which you have easily available.
This can be done in a single pass, in O(N) time in the number of integers in the input list, and O(N) storage in the number of unique integers.
Walk through the list from front to back, with two pointers "dst" and "src" initialized to the first item. Start with an empty hash table of "integers seen". If the integer at src is not present in the hash, write it to the slot at dst and increment dst. Add the integer at src to the hash, then increment src. Repeat until src passes the end of the input list.
Create a BinarySearchTree which has O(n) complexity.
It'd be cool if you had a good DataStructure that could quickly tell if it contains an integer. Perhaps a tree of some sort.
DataStructure elementsSeen = new DataStructure();
int elementsRemoved = 0;
for(int i=0;i<array.Length;i++){
if(elementsSeen.Contains(array[i])
elementsRemoved++;
else
array[i-elementsRemoved] = array[i];
}
array.Length = array.Length - elementsRemoved;
I've posted this once before on SO, but I'll reproduce it here because it's pretty cool. It uses hashing, building something like a hash set in place. It's guaranteed to be O(1) in axillary space (the recursion is a tail call), and is typically O(N) time complexity. The algorithm is as follows:
This can be shown to be O(N) provided no pathological scenario in the hashing: Even if there are no duplicates, approximately 2/3 of the elements will be eliminated at each recursion. Each level of recursion is O(n) where small n is the amount of elements left. The only problem is that, in practice, it's slower than a quick sort when there are few duplicates, i.e. lots of collisions. However, when there are huge amounts of duplicates, it's amazingly fast.
Edit: In current implementations of D, hash_t is 32 bits. Everything about this algorithm assumes that there will be very few, if any, hash collisions in full 32-bit space. Collisions may, however, occur frequently in the modulus space. However, this assumption will in all likelihood be true for any reasonably sized data set. If the key is less than or equal to 32 bits, it can be its own hash, meaning that a collision in full 32-bit space is impossible. If it is larger, you simply can't fit enough of them into 32-bit memory address space for it to be a problem. I assume hash_t will be increased to 64 bits in 64-bit implementations of D, where datasets can be larger. Furthermore, if this ever did prove to be a problem, one could change the hash function at each level of recursion.
Here's an implementation in the D programming language:
void uniqueInPlace(T)(ref T[] dataIn) {
uniqueInPlaceImpl(dataIn, 0);
}
void uniqueInPlaceImpl(T)(ref T[] dataIn, size_t start) {
if(dataIn.length - start < 2)
return;
invariant T sentinel = dataIn[start];
T[] data = dataIn[start + 1..$];
static hash_t getHash(T elem) {
static if(is(T == uint) || is(T == int)) {
return cast(hash_t) elem;
} else static if(__traits(compiles, elem.toHash)) {
return elem.toHash;
} else {
static auto ti = typeid(typeof(elem));
return ti.getHash(&elem);
}
}
for(size_t index = 0; index < data.length;) {
if(data[index] == sentinel) {
index++;
continue;
}
auto hash = getHash(data[index]) % data.length;
if(index == hash) {
index++;
continue;
}
if(data[index] == data[hash]) {
data[index] = sentinel;
index++;
continue;
}
if(data[hash] == sentinel) {
swap(data[hash], data[index]);
index++;
continue;
}
auto hashHash = getHash(data[hash]) % data.length;
if(hashHash != hash) {
swap(data[index], data[hash]);
if(hash < index)
index++;
} else {
index++;
}
}
size_t swapPos = 0;
foreach(i; 0..data.length) {
if(data[i] != sentinel && i == getHash(data[i]) % data.length) {
swap(data[i], data[swapPos++]);
}
}
size_t sentinelPos = data.length;
for(size_t i = swapPos; i < sentinelPos;) {
if(data[i] == sentinel) {
swap(data[i], data[--sentinelPos]);
} else {
i++;
}
}
dataIn = dataIn[0..sentinelPos + start + 1];
uniqueInPlaceImpl(dataIn, start + swapPos + 1);
}
For someone who want to have simple solution in C++:
int* rmdup(int path[], int start, int end, int& newEnd) {
int ret[100];
newEnd = end;
int j = start;
for (int i = start; i < end; i++) {
if (path[i] == path[i+1]) {
newEnd--;
continue;
}
ret[j++] = path[i];
}
ret[j++] = path[end];
for(int i = start; i <= newEnd; i++)
path[i] = ret[i];
}
You could do this in a single traversal, if you are willing to sacrifice memory. You can simply tally whether you have seen an integer or not in a hash/associative array. If you have already seen a number, remove it as you go, or better yet, move numbers you have not seen into a new array, avoiding any shifting in the original array.
In Perl:
foreach $i (@myary) {
if(!defined $seen{$i}) {
$seen{$i} = 1;
push @newary, $i;
}
}
Source: Stackoverflow.com