First Missing Positive

Posted by Bill on October 17, 2023

First Missing Positive

Given an unsorted integer array nums, return the smallest missing positive integer.

You must implement an algorithm that runs in O(n) time and uses O(1) auxiliary space.

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Example 1:

Input: nums = [1,2,0]
Output: 3
Explanation: The numbers in the range [1,2] are all in the array.

Example 2:

Input: nums = [3,4,-1,1]
Output: 2
Explanation: 1 is in the array but 2 is missing.

Example 3:

Input: nums = [7,8,9,11,12]
Output: 1
Explanation: The smallest positive integer 1 is missing.

Solution

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int firstMissingPositive(vector<int>& nums) {
  int len = nums.size();
  for (int i = 0 ; i < len; i++) {
    if (nums[i] <= 0) {
      nums[i] = len + 1;
    }
  }
  for (int i = 0; i < len; i++) {
    int num = abs(nums[i]);
    if (num <= len) {
      nums[num - 1] = -abs(nums[num - 1]);
    }
  }
  for (int i = 0; i < len; i++) {
    if (nums[i] > 0) {
      return i + 1;
    }
  }
  return len + 1;
}