Checking for duplicates in an array using for loop - c++

Question

I am trying to check whether there is any duplicate integer in the user input array. The problem is that the validation of the duplicate does not work properly and I have no idea why it is not showing the desired output. Following is the code:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
int length;
int arrValue;
cout << "Enter the length : ";
cin >> length;
int *arr = new int[length];
cout << "Enter " << length << " integers for array : ";
for(int i = 0; i < length; i++)
{
cin >> arr[i];
}
cout << "Array : ";
for(int i = 0; i < length; i++)
{
arrValue = arr[i];
for(int k = i + 1; k < length; k++)
{
if(arr[i] == arr[k])
{
cout << "Duplicate found" << endl;
break;
}
else
{
cout << arrValue << " ";
}
}
}
delete[] arr;
}
Current result (assuming no duplicate in user input):
Enter the length: 5
Enter 5 integers for array : 5 4 3 2 1
Array : 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 2
Expected result (assuming no duplicate in user input):
Enter the length: 5
Enter 5 integers for array : 5 4 3 2 1
Array : 5 4 3 2 1
Current result (assuming duplicate in user input):
Enter the length: 5
Enter 5 integers for array : 5 4 4 2 1
Array : 5 5 5 5 Duplicate found 4 4 3
Expected result (assuming duplicate in user input):
Enter the length: 5
Enter 5 integers for array : 5 4 4 2 1
Array : Duplicate found
I believe my loops is the source to the problem. The current result output 10 times and I do not understand why there will be so many same numbers appearing.
Do note that I am trying to apply the validation using loop only and not from C++ standard library.

Answer 1

The issue in your code is that you are printing out each array element every time a particular element is not matching another element. It seems that you only want to print out whether any duplicate values are found. For this, you can use a bool flag to indicate whether any element is duplicated:
bool found_dup = false;
for(int i = 0; i < length; i++)
for(int k = i + 1; k < length; k++)
if(arr[i] == arr[k])
{
found_dup = true;
break;
}
// else: don't print anything yet
and then at the end print out the array:
if (found_dup)
std::cout << "Duplicate found";
else
for(int i = 0; i < length; i++)
std::cout << arr[i] << " ";

Answer 2

You may achieve the program in a more enhanced way (where you don't need to define the length manually - notice the explanation given as comments in code):
#include <iostream> // for input/output operation
#include <vector> // for dynamic array management
#include <sstream> // to split the user inputs and assign them to the vector
#include <algorithm> // to sort the vector
#include <string> // to work with getline()
// using this statement isn't recommended, but for sake of simplicity
// and avoiding the use of std:: everywhere temporarily (for small programs)
using namespace std;
int main(void) {
vector<int> numbers;
vector<int> duplicates;
string input;
int temp;
// getting the user input as string
cout << "Enter the numbers: ";
getline(cin, input);
stringstream ss(input);
// splitting the user input string into integers and assigning
// them into the vector
while (ss >> temp)
numbers.push_back(temp);
// sorting the vector in increasing order
sort(numbers.begin(), numbers.end());
// getting the unique numbers (which are not repeated)
cout << "Unique numbers: ";
for (size_t i = 0, len = numbers.size(); i < len; i++) {
if (temp == numbers[i])
// if found a duplicate, then push into the 'duplicates' vector
duplicates.push_back(temp);
else
cout << numbers[i] << ' ';
temp = numbers[i];
}
// getting the duplicates
cout << "Total duplicates: ";
for (size_t i = 0, len = duplicates.size(); i < len; i++)
cout << duplicates[i] << ' ';
cout << endl;
return 0;
}
It'll output something like:
Enter the numbers: 1 4 8 9 3 2 3 3 2 1 4 8
Unique numbers: 1 2 3 4 8 9
Total duplicates: 1 2 3 3 4 8

Answer 3

Please change the if condition to something like this.
cout << "Enter the length : ";
cin >> length;
int *arr = new int[length];
cout << "Enter " << length << " integers for array : ";
for(int i = 0; i < length; i++)
{
cin >> arr[i];
}
cout << "Array : ";
for(int i = 0; i < length; i++)
{
arrValue = arr[i];
for(int k = i + 1; k < length; k++)
{
if(arrValue == arr[k]) //change here.
{
cout << "Duplicate found" << endl;
break;
}
else
{
cout << arrValue << " ";
}
}
}
delete[] arr;
}
I would also suggest to use a map data structure. Map allows you to count the frequency of numbers, and thus detect duplicates in linear time.
map<int, int> m; // specify the key-value data-type.
for(int i = 0;i<length;i++)
{
m[arr[i]]++;
}
map<int, int>::iterator it; // an iterator to iterate over the datastructure.
for(it = m.begin();it!=m.end();it++)
{
if(it->second>1) //it->second refers to the value(here, count).
{
cout<<it->first<<" "; //it->first refers to the key.
}
}

Answer 4

Your loops are actually iterating n-1 times for first element, n-2 times for second element etc., where n is the length of your array. This is why for 5 element array you have printed 5 4 times.
But generally, if the purpose is to detect duplicates in the array, this strategy is not the best one. Please note that having exemplary array 4 3 4, with current approach you will correctly detect for the first 4 that the third element is also 4 but once you will move to the third element, it will be marked as ok since it is not checked with the first one element.
You may consider another strategy: create another array of the n size. Then iterate through your original array and for each element check if that element is already in the new array. If you detect the presence, you may raise duplicate event. Otherwise you can add this element to the array.

Answer 5

It doesn't work because you're trying to print the same value everytime you find a different one. I got here a solution with one more array that will store the array. It would work too with just one array.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
int length;
int arrValue;
cout << "Enter the length : ";
cin >> length;
int *arr = new int[length];
int *noDuplicateArr = new int[length];
cout << "Enter " << length << " integers for array : ";
for(int i = 0; i < length; i++)
cin >> arr[i];
cout << "Array : ";
bool duplicateFound = false;
int noDuplicateArrLen = 0;
for(int i = 0; i < length && !duplicateFound; i++)
{
arrValue = arr[i];
int k;
for(k = i + 1; k < length; k++)
{
if(arrValue == arr[k])
{
duplicateFound = true;
break;
}
}
if (k == length)
noDuplicateArr[noDuplicateArrLen++] = arrValue;
}
if (duplicateFound)
{
cout << "Duplicate found";
}
else
{
for (int i = 0; i < noDuplicateArrLen; i++)
{
cout << noDuplicateArr[i] << " ";
}
}
delete[] arr;
delete[] noDuplicateArr;
}
Here is the version with just one array:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
int length;
int arrValue;
cout << "Enter the length : ";
cin >> length;
int *arr = new int[length];
cout << "Enter " << length << " integers for array : ";
for(int i = 0; i < length; i++)
cin >> arr[i];
cout << "Array : ";
bool duplicateFound = false;
int noDuplicateArrLen = 0;
for(int i = 0; i < length && !duplicateFound; i++)
{
arrValue = arr[i];
int k;
for(k = i + 1; k < length; k++)
{
if(arrValue == arr[k])
{
duplicateFound = true;
break;
}
}
if (k == length)
arr[noDuplicateArrLen++] = arrValue;
}
if (duplicateFound)
{
cout << "Duplicate found";
}
else
{
for (int i = 0; i < noDuplicateArrLen; i++)
{
cout << arr[i] << " ";
}
}
delete[] arr;
}