Find the element that appears once in a sorted array

Given a sorted array in which all elements appear twice (one after one) and one element appears only once. Find that element in O(log n) complexity.

Example:

Input:   arr[] = {1, 1, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 7, 7, 8, 8}
Output:  4

Input:   arr[] = {1, 1, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 7, 7, 8}
Output:  8

Recommended: Please solve it on “PRACTICE ” first, before moving on to the solution.

A Simple Solution is to traverse the array from left to right. Since the array is sorted, we can easily figure out the required element.

An Efficient Solution can find the required element in O(Log n) time. The idea is to use Binary Search. Below is an observation in input array.
All elements before the required have first occurrence at even index (0, 2, ..) and next occurrence at odd index (1, 3, …). And all elements after the required element have first occurrence at odd index and next occurrence at even index.

1) Find the middle index, say ‘mid’.

2) If ‘mid’ is even, then compare arr[mid] and arr[mid + 1]. If both are same, then the required element after ‘mid’ else before mid.

3) If ‘mid’ is odd, then compare arr[mid] and arr[mid – 1]. If both are same, then the required element after ‘mid’ else before mid.

Below is the implementation based on above idea.

C/C++

// C program to find the element that appears only once
#include<stdio.h>

// A Binary Search based function to find the element
// that appears only once
void search(int *arr, int low, int high)
{
     // Base cases
    if (low > high)
       return;

    if (low==high)
    {
        printf("The required element is %d ", arr[low]);
        return;
    }

    // Find the middle point
    int mid = (low + high) / 2;

    // If mid is even and element next to mid is
    // same as mid, then output element lies on
    // right side, else on left side
    if (mid%2 == 0)
    {
        if (arr[mid] == arr[mid+1])
            search(arr, mid+2, high);
        else
            search(arr, low, mid);
    }
    else  // If mid is odd
    {
        if (arr[mid] == arr[mid-1])
            search(arr, mid+1, high);
        else
            search(arr, low, mid-1);
    }
}

// Driver program
int main()
{
    int arr[] = {1, 1, 2, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6};
    int len = sizeof(arr)/sizeof(arr[0]);
    search(arr, 0, len-1);
    return 0;
}

Java

// Java program to find the element that appears only once

public class Main 
{
    // A Binary Search based method to find the element
    // that appears only once
    public static void search(int[] arr, int low, int high)
    {
        if(low > high)
            return;
        if(low == high)
        {
            System.out.println("The required element is "+arr[low]);
            return;
        }
        
        // Find the middle point
        int mid = (low + high)/2;
        
        // If mid is even and element next to mid is
        // same as mid, then output element lies on
        // right side, else on left side
        if(mid % 2 == 0)
        {
            if(arr[mid] == arr[mid+1])
                search(arr, mid+2, high);
            else
                search(arr, low, mid);
        }
        // If mid is odd
        else if(mid % 2 == 1)
        {
            if(arr[mid] == arr[mid-1])
                search(arr, mid+1, high);
            else
                search(arr, low, mid-1);
        }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) 
    {
        int[] arr = {1, 1, 2, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6};
        search(arr, 0, arr.length-1);
    }    
}
// This code is contributed by Tanisha Mittal

Python

# A Binary search based function to find
# the element that appears only once
def search(arr, low, high):

    # Base cases
    if low > high:
        return None

    if low == high:
        return arr[low]

    # Find the middle point
    mid = low + (high - low)/2

    # If mid is even and element next to mid is
    # same as mid, then output element lies on
    # right side, else on left side
    if mid%2 == 0:

        if arr[mid] == arr[mid+1]:
            return search(arr, mid+2, high)
        else:
            return search(arr, low, mid)

    else:
        # if mid is odd
        if arr[mid] == arr[mid-1]:
            return search(arr, mid+1, high)
        else:
            return search(arr, low, mid-1)


# Test Array
arr = [ 1, 1, 2, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6 ]

# Function call
result = search(arr, 0, len(arr)-1)

if result is not None:
    print "The required element is %d" % result
else:
    print "Invalid Array"

C#

// C# program to find the element
// that appears only once
using System;

class GFG {
    
    // A Binary Search based
    // method to find the element
    // that appears only once
    public static void search(int[] arr, 
                              int low, 
                              int high)
    {
        
        if(low > high)
            return;
        if(low == high)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("The required element is "
                                             +arr[low]);
            return;
        }
        
        // Find the middle point
        int mid = (low + high)/2;
        
        // If mid is even and element
        // next to mid is same as mid
        // then output element lies on
        // right side, else on left side
        if(mid % 2 == 0)
        {
            if(arr[mid] == arr[mid + 1])
                search(arr, mid + 2, high);
            else
                search(arr, low, mid);
        }
        
        // If mid is odd
        else if(mid % 2 == 1)
        {
            if(arr[mid] == arr[mid - 1])
                search(arr, mid + 1, high);
            else
                search(arr, low, mid - 1);
        }
    }

    // Driver Code
    public static void Main(String[] args) 
    {
        int[] arr = {1, 1, 2, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6};
        search(arr, 0, arr.Length - 1);
    } 
}

// This code is contributed by Nitin Mittal.

PHP

<?php
// PHP program to find the element
// that appears only once

// A Binary Search based function
// to find the element that 
// appears only once
function search($arr, $low, $high)
{
    
    // Base cases
    if ($low > $high)
        return;

    if ($low==$high)
    {
        echo("The required element is " );
        echo $arr[$low] ;
        return;
    }

    // Find the middle point
    $mid = ($low + $high) / 2;

    // If mid is even and element 
    // next to mid is same as mid,
    // then output element lies on
    // right side, else on left side
    if ($mid % 2 == 0)
    {
        if ($arr[$mid] == $arr[$mid + 1])
            search($arr, $mid + 2, $high);
        else
            search($arr, $low, $mid);
    }
    
    // If mid is odd
    else 
    {
        if ($arr[$mid] == $arr[$mid - 1])
            search($arr, $mid + 1, $high);
        else
            search($arr, $low, $mid - 1);
    }
}

    // Driver Code
    $arr = array(1, 1, 2, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6);
    $len = sizeof($arr);
    search($arr, 0, $len - 1);

// This code is contributed by nitin mittal
?>

Output:

The required element is 2

Time Complexity: O(Log n)

This article is contributed by Mehboob Elahi. Please write comments if you find anything incorrect, or you want to share more information about the topic discussed above

My Personal Notes

Improved By : Aalaa Abdel Mawla, nitin mittal

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