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Q218FreeSystemVerilog

Merge inclusive overlapping intervals

Difficulty
Medium
Topic
Arrays
Language
SV
Interview prompt

Question

Given a queue of inclusive [start, end] intervals, merge every overlap and return the merged intervals sorted by start.

Starting point

Question code

typedef struct {
  int unsigned start_val;
  int unsigned end_val;
} interval_t;

function automatic interval_t[$]
merge_intervals(interval_t intervals[$]);
Reviewed example

Trace one case

Input
intervals = [[1,2], [2,4], [6,7], [8,9]]
Expected output
[[1,4], [6,7], [8,9]]

Inclusive ranges sharing endpoint 2 merge, while [6,7] and [8,9] remain separate because adjacency alone is not overlap.

What to cover

Requirements

  1. Assume every input interval satisfies start_val <= end_val.
  2. Merge intervals that share an endpoint, such as [1,2] and [2,4].
  3. Do not merge merely adjacent integer ranges such as [1,2] and [3,4].
  4. Return an empty queue for empty input.
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