std::merge

Defined in header `<algorithm>`
template< class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt > OutputIt merge( InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1, InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2, OutputIt d_first );	(1)
template< class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt, class Compare> OutputIt merge( InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1, InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2, OutputIt d_first, Compare comp );	(2)

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).

first1, last1	-	the first range of elements to merge
first2, last2	-	the second range of elements to merge
d_first	-	the beginning of the destination range
comp	-	comparison function object (i.e. an object that satisfies the requirements of `Compare`) which returns true if the first argument is less than (i.e. is ordered before) the second. The signature of the comparison function should be equivalent to the following: bool cmp(const Type1 &a, const Type2 &b); The signature does not need to have const &, but the function object must not modify the objects passed to it. The types Type1 and Type2 must be such that objects of types InputIt1 and InputIt2 can be dereferenced and then implicitly converted to Type1 and Type2 respectively.
Type requirements
- `InputIt1` must meet the requirements of `InputIterator`.
- `InputIt2` must meet the requirements of `InputIterator`.
- `OutputIt` must meet the requirements of `OutputIterator`.

[edit] Return value

An output iterator to element past the last element copied.

[edit] Complexity

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

[edit] Possible implementation

First version

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);
}

Second version

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);
}

[edit] Example

Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <iterator>
#include <algorithm>
#include <vector>
#include <random>
 
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';
}

Possible output:

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

[edit] See also

inplace_merge	merges two ordered ranges in-place (function template)
sort	sorts a range into ascending order (function template)
stable_sort	sorts a range of elements while preserving order between equal elements (function template)

Language
Standard library headers
Concepts
Utilities library
Strings library
Containers library
Algorithms library
Iterators library
Numerics library
Input/output library
Localizations library
Regular expressions library (C++11)
Atomic operations library (C++11)
Thread support library (C++11)