80. Remove Duplicates from Sorted Array II

Problem Statement

Pattern:

---

Solution

public int removeDuplicates(int[] nums) {
	int i = 0, j = 0;
	while (j < nums.length) {
		int seek = j; 
		while(seek+1 < nums.length && nums[seek+1] == nums[seek]) seek++;
		if(seek - j + 1 >= 2) {
			nums[i++] = nums[j];
			nums[i++] = nums[j];
		} else nums[i++] = nums[j];
		j = seek + 1;
	}
	return i;
}

TC : $O(n)$ SC : $O(1)$

Notes

• have a third pointer seek forwards to from the second pointer, if it reaches a distance >= 2, then override the next 2 elements, else just a single element