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

Question

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!

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.

A minor improvement, but after the main loop, you could use System.arraycopy to copy the tail of either input array when you get to the end of the other. That won't change the O(n) performance characteristics of your solution, though.

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

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;
}

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);
}

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)

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