Display 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,10,11 as 1-6,8,10-11
Here is one way of doing it:
int[] numbers = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11 };
int start, end;
for (int i = 0; i < numbers.Length; i++)
{
start = numbers[i];
while (i < numbers.Length - 1 && numbers[i] + 1 == numbers[i + 1])
i++;
end = numbers[i];
if(start == end)
Console.WriteLine(start);
else
Console.WriteLine(start + " - " + end);
}
This will display subsequent numbers that grow incrementally as range. Numbers that are not increasing linearly are not written as part of a range.
Here is another version of the first approach, it utilizes the same for
loop to iterate on range:
int temp = numbers[0], start, end;
for (int i = 0; i < numbers.Length; i++)
{
start = temp;
if (i < numbers.Length - 1 )
// if subsequent numbers are incremental loop further
if (numbers[i] + 1 == numbers[i + 1])
continue;
// if they are not, number at index i + 1 is a new 'start' for the next iteration
else
temp = numbers[i + 1];
end = numbers[i];
if (start == end)
Console.WriteLine(start);
else
Console.WriteLine(start + " - " + end);
}
A simple implementation in C# could look like this:
public string Format(IEnumerable<int> input)
{
var result = string.Empty;
var previous = -1;
var start = -1;
var first = true;
foreach(var i in input)
{
if(start == -1)
start = i;
else if(previous + 1 != i)
{
result += FormatRange(start, previous, first);
first = false;
start = i;
}
previous = i;
}
if(start != -1)
result += FormatRange(start, previous, first);
return result;
}
public string FormatRange(int start, int end, bool isFirst)
{
var result = string.Empty;
if(!isFirst)
result += ", ";
if(start == end)
result += start;
else
result += string.Format("{0}-{1}", start, end);
return result;
}
This will also output 1-3
for the input 1,2,3
, which is perfectly valid. Without a specification what the output should be instead it's impossible to answer that part.
Probably not a suitable answer for an interview question, but using LINQ is another way to solve this.
int[] numbers = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11 };
var remains = numbers.AsEnumerable();
while (remains.Any())
{
int first = remains.First();
int last = remains.TakeWhile((x, i) => x - first == i).Last();
remains = remains.Skip(last - first + 1);
Console.Write(first + (first == last ? "" : "-" + last) + (remains.Any() ? "," : Environment.NewLine));
}