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Coding/Arrays and strings

Merge two sorted code lists without repeats

Write codeEasy10 min

Your task

Two warehouse zones each keep a sorted list of the product codes they stock. A code can repeat within one zone's list and can appear in both zones.

Write combined_catalogue(a, b) that returns the combined catalogue: every code that either zone stocks, once each, in increasing order.

Input and output:

  • a, b: the two zones' lists, each a list of 0 to 100,000 integers from -1,000,000,000 to 1,000,000,000, in non-decreasing order.
  • Returns a list of integers in strictly increasing order.

Rules:

  • A code is in the result if it appears in a, in b, or in both.
  • Each code appears in the result exactly once, however many times it appears in the inputs.
  • Codes are ordered by numeric value.
  • Two empty lists return an empty list.

Examples

combined_catalogue(a: list[int], b: list[int]) -> list[int]
Example 1
Inputcombined_catalogue([1, 3, 3, 5], [2, 3, 6])
Output[1, 2, 3, 5, 6]
Example 2
Inputcombined_catalogue([-5, 10, 10], [2, 100])
Output[-5, 2, 10, 100]