Unexpected Output When Merging Two Sorted Arrays in Java - Issues with Duplicates
Does anyone know how to I need help solving I've been banging my head against this for hours. Quick question that's been bugging me - I'm trying to merge two sorted integer arrays in Java while maintaining the order and ensuring that the output does not contain duplicates. I implemented a function that uses two pointers to traverse both arrays, but I'm running into unexpected behavior. The merged array sometimes includes duplicate elements, which is not what I intended. Here's my current implementation: ```java public int[] mergeSortedArrays(int[] arr1, int[] arr2) { int n1 = arr1.length; int n2 = arr2.length; int[] merged = new int[n1 + n2]; int i = 0, j = 0, k = 0; while (i < n1 && j < n2) { if (arr1[i] < arr2[j]) { merged[k++] = arr1[i++]; } else if (arr1[i] > arr2[j]) { merged[k++] = arr2[j++]; } else { // Both elements are equal, add one and skip the other merged[k++] = arr1[i++]; j++; } } while (i < n1) { merged[k++] = arr1[i++]; } while (j < n2) { merged[k++] = arr2[j++]; } return Arrays.copyOf(merged, k); // Trim the array to the correct length } ``` I've tested this function with inputs like `arr1 = {1, 2, 3}` and `arr2 = {2, 3, 4}`. The output I get is `[1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4]`, which is not what I want. The duplicates appear even though I'm trying to skip them. I thought my conditional checks were sufficient, but I might be overlooking something. I've also considered using a `HashSet` to store unique values, but I want to avoid the overhead of additional data structures if possible. Any suggestions on how to fix the merging logic without introducing duplicates? Is there a more efficient approach that ensures both order and uniqueness? I'm using Java 17. This is part of a larger service I'm building. What am I doing wrong? My development environment is macOS. Is there a better approach? My development environment is macOS. The stack includes Java and several other technologies. Thanks, I really appreciate it!