LeetCode //C - 217. Contains Duplicate

217. Contains Duplicate

Given an integer array nums, return true if any value appears at least twice in the array, and return false if every element is distinct.
 

Example 1:

Input: nums = [1,2,3,1]
Output: true

Example 2:

Input: nums = [1,2,3,4]
Output: false

Example 3:

Input: nums = [1,1,1,3,3,4,3,2,4,2]
Output: true

Constraints:

• $1<=nums.length<=10^5$
• $-109<=nums[i]<=10^9$

From: LeetCode
Link: 217. Contains Duplicate

Solution:

Ideas:

1. Sorting the Array:

• The qsort function is used to sort the array. This makes it easy to check for duplicates by comparing each element to its next neighbor.
• The compare function is a helper function for qsort to define how two elements should be compared.

2. Checking for Duplicates:

• After sorting, the array is traversed once. If any element is the same as the one before it, the function returns true, indicating that a duplicate exists.
• If no duplicates are found after traversing the array, the function returns false.

Code:

int compare(const void* a, const void* b) {
    return (*(int*)a - *(int*)b);
}

bool containsDuplicate(int* nums, int numsSize) {
    if (numsSize < 2) {
        return false;
    }

    // Sort the array
    qsort(nums, numsSize, sizeof(int), compare);

    // Check for duplicates in the sorted array
    for (int i = 1; i < numsSize; i++) {
        if (nums[i] == nums[i - 1]) {
            return true;
        }
    }

    return false;
}