std::merge

template< class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt >
OutputIt merge( InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1,
                InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2,
                OutputIt d_first );

template< class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt, class Compare>
OutputIt merge( InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1,
                InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2,
                OutputIt d_first, Compare comp );

Merges two sorted ranges [first1, last1) and [first2, last2) into one sorted range beginning at d_first. The first version uses operator< to compare the elements, the second version uses the given comparison function comp. The relative order of equivalent elements is preserved.

The behavior is undefined if the destination range overlaps either of the input ranges (the input ranges may overlap each other).

Parameters

Return value

An output iterator to element past the last element copied.

Complexity

At most std::distance(first1, last1) + std::distance(first2, last2) - 1 comparisons.

Notes

This algorithm performs a similar task as std::set_union does. Both consume two sorted input ranges and produce a sorted output with elements from both inputs. The difference bewteen these two algorithms is with handling values from both input ranges which compare equivalent (see notes on LessThanComparable). If any equivalent values appeared n times in the first range and m times in the second, std::merge would output all n+m occurrences whereas std::set_union would output std::max(n, m) ones only. So std::merge outputs exactly std::distance(first1, last1) + std::distance(first2, last2) values and std::set_union may produce less.

Possible implementation

template<class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt>
OutputIt merge(InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1,
               InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2,
               OutputIt d_first)
{
    for (; first1 != last1; ++d_first) {
        if (first2 == last2) {
            return std::copy(first1, last1, d_first);
        }
        if (*first2 < *first1) {
            *d_first = *first2;
            ++first2;
        } else {
            *d_first = *first1;
            ++first1;
        }
    }
    return std::copy(first2, last2, d_first);
}

template<class InputIt1, class InputIt2,
         class OutputIt, class Compare>
OutputIt merge(InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1,
               InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2,
               OutputIt d_first, Compare comp)
{
    for (; first1 != last1; ++d_first) {
        if (first2 == last2) {
            return std::copy(first1, last1, d_first);
        }
        if (comp(*first2, *first1)) {
            *d_first = *first2;
            ++first2;
        } else {
            *d_first = *first1;
            ++first1;
        }
    }
    return std::copy(first2, last2, d_first);
}

Example

#include <iostream>
#include <iterator>
#include <algorithm>
#include <vector>
#include <random>
#include <functional>
 
int main()
{
    // fill the vectors with random numbers
    std::random_device rd;
    std::mt19937 mt(rd());
    std::uniform_int_distribution<> dis(0, 9);
 
    std::vector<int> v1(10), v2(10);
    std::generate(v1.begin(), v1.end(), std::bind(dis, std::ref(mt)));
    std::generate(v2.begin(), v2.end(), std::bind(dis, std::ref(mt)));
 
    // sort
    std::sort(v1.begin(), v1.end());
    std::sort(v2.begin(), v2.end());
 
    // output v1
    std::cout << "v1 : ";
    std::copy(v1.begin(), v1.end(), std::ostream_iterator<int>(std::cout, " "));
    std::cout << '\n';
 
    // output v2
    std::cout << "v2 : ";
    std::copy(v2.begin(), v2.end(), std::ostream_iterator<int>(std::cout, " "));
    std::cout << '\n';
 
    // merge
    std::vector<int> dst;
    std::merge(v1.begin(), v1.end(), v2.begin(), v2.end(), std::back_inserter(dst));
 
    // output
    std::cout << "dst: ";
    std::copy(dst.begin(), dst.end(), std::ostream_iterator<int>(std::cout, " "));
    std::cout << '\n';
}

v1 : 0 1 3 4 4 5 5 8 8 9 
v2 : 0 2 2 3 6 6 8 8 8 9 
dst: 0 0 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 8 8 8 8 8 9 9

See also