Non-Repeating Element

Difficulty Level : Easy
Last Updated : 16 Apr, 2020

Find the first non-repeating element in a given array of integers.

Examples:

Input : -1 2 -1 3 2
Output : 3
Explanation : The first number that does not 
repeat is : 3

Input : 9 4 9 6 7 4
Output : 6

Recommended: Please try your approach on {IDE} first, before moving on to the solution.

A Simple Solution is to use two loops. The outer loop picks elements one by one and inner loop checks if the element is present more than once or not.

C++

// Simple CPP program to find first non- 
// repeating element. 
#include <bits/stdc++.h> 
using namespace std; 
  
int firstNonRepeating(int arr[], int n) 
{ 
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) { 
        int j; 
        for (j = 0; j < n; j++) 
            if (i != j && arr[i] == arr[j]) 
                break; 
        if (j == n) 
            return arr[i]; 
    } 
    return -1; 
} 
  
// Driver code 
int main() 
{ 
    int arr[] = { 9, 4, 9, 6, 7, 4 }; 
    int n = sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]); 
    cout << firstNonRepeating(arr, n); 
    return 0; 
} 

Java

// Java program to find first non-repeating 
// element. 
class GFG { 
  
    static int firstNonRepeating(int arr[], int n) 
    { 
        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) { 
            int j; 
            for (j = 0; j < n; j++) 
                if (i != j && arr[i] == arr[j]) 
                    break; 
            if (j == n) 
                return arr[i]; 
        } 
  
        return -1; 
    } 
  
    // Driver code 
    public static void main(String[] args) 
    { 
  
        int arr[] = { 9, 4, 9, 6, 7, 4 }; 
        int n = arr.length; 
  
        System.out.print(firstNonRepeating(arr, n)); 
    } 
} 
  
// This code is contributed by Anant Agarwal. 

Python3

# Python3 program to find first  
# non-repeating element. 
  
def firstNonRepeating(arr, n): 
  
    for i in range(n): 
        j = 0
        while(j < n): 
            if (i != j and arr[i] == arr[j]): 
                break
            j += 1
        if (j == n): 
            return arr[i] 
      
    return -1
      
# Driver code 
arr = [ 9, 4, 9, 6, 7, 4 ] 
n = len(arr) 
print(firstNonRepeating(arr, n)) 
  
# This code is contributed by Anant Agarwal. 

C#

// C# program to find first non- 
// repeating element. 
using System; 
  
class GFG { 
    static int firstNonRepeating(int[] arr, int n) 
    { 
        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) { 
            int j; 
            for (j = 0; j < n; j++) 
                if (i != j && arr[i] == arr[j]) 
                    break; 
            if (j == n) 
                return arr[i]; 
        } 
        return -1; 
    } 
  
    // Driver code 
    public static void Main() 
    { 
        int[] arr = { 9, 4, 9, 6, 7, 4 }; 
        int n = arr.Length; 
        Console.Write(firstNonRepeating(arr, n)); 
    } 
} 
// This code is contributed by Anant Agarwal. 

PHP

<?php 
// Simple PHP program to find first non- 
// repeating element. 
  
function firstNonRepeating($arr, $n) 
{ 
    for ($i = 0; $i < $n; $i++) 
    { 
        $j; 
        for ($j = 0; $j< $n; $j++) 
            if ($i != $j && $arr[$i] == $arr[$j]) 
                break; 
        if ($j == $n) 
            return $arr[$i]; 
    } 
    return -1; 
} 
  
    // Driver code 
    $arr = array(9, 4, 9, 6, 7, 4); 
    $n = sizeof($arr) ; 
    echo firstNonRepeating($arr, $n); 
      
// This code is contributed by ajit 
?> 

Output:

An Efficient Solution is to use hashing.
1) Traverse array and insert elements and their counts in hash table.
2) Traverse array again and print first element with count equals to 1.

C++

// Efficient CPP program to find first non- 
// repeating element. 
#include <bits/stdc++.h> 
using namespace std; 
  
int firstNonRepeating(int arr[], int n) 
{ 
    // Insert all array elements in hash 
    // table 
    unordered_map<int, int> mp; 
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) 
        mp[arr[i]]++; 
  
    // Traverse array again and return 
    // first element with count 1. 
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) 
        if (mp[arr[i]] == 1) 
            return arr[i]; 
    return -1; 
} 
  
// Driver code 
int main() 
{ 
    int arr[] = { 9, 4, 9, 6, 7, 4 }; 
    int n = sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]); 
    cout << firstNonRepeating(arr, n); 
    return 0; 
} 

Java

// Efficient Java program to find first non- 
// repeating element. 
import java.util.*; 
  
class GFG { 
  
    static int firstNonRepeating(int arr[], int n) 
    { 
        // Insert all array elements in hash 
        // table 
  
        Map<Integer, Integer> m = new HashMap<>(); 
        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) { 
            if (m.containsKey(arr[i])) { 
                m.put(arr[i], m.get(arr[i]) + 1); 
            } 
            else { 
                m.put(arr[i], 1); 
            } 
        } 
        // Traverse array again and return 
        // first element with count 1. 
        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) 
            if (m.get(arr[i]) == 1) 
                return arr[i]; 
        return -1; 
    } 
  
    // Driver code 
    public static void main(String[] args) 
    { 
        int arr[] = { 9, 4, 9, 6, 7, 4 }; 
        int n = arr.length; 
        System.out.println(firstNonRepeating(arr, n)); 
    } 
} 
  
// This code contributed by Rajput-Ji 

Python3

# Efficient Python3 program to find first  
# non-repeating element. 
from collections import defaultdict 
  
def firstNonRepeating(arr, n): 
    mp = defaultdict(lambda:0) 
  
    # Insert all array elements in hash table  
    for i in range(n): 
        mp[arr[i]] += 1
  
    # Traverse array again and return  
    # first element with count 1.  
    for i in range(n): 
        if mp[arr[i]] == 1: 
            return arr[i] 
    return -1
  
# Driver Code 
arr = [9, 4, 9, 6, 7, 4] 
n = len(arr) 
print(firstNonRepeating(arr, n))  
  
# This code is contributed by Shrikant13 

C#

// Efficient C# program to find first non- 
// repeating element. 
using System; 
using System.Collections.Generic; 
  
class GFG { 
  
    static int firstNonRepeating(int[] arr, int n) 
    { 
        // Insert all array elements in hash 
        // table 
  
        Dictionary<int, int> m = new Dictionary<int, int>(); 
        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) { 
            if (m.ContainsKey(arr[i])) { 
                var val = m[arr[i]]; 
                m.Remove(arr[i]); 
                m.Add(arr[i], val + 1); 
            } 
            else { 
                m.Add(arr[i], 1); 
            } 
        } 
  
        // Traverse array again and return 
        // first element with count 1. 
        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) 
            if (m[arr[i]] == 1) 
                return arr[i]; 
        return -1; 
    } 
  
    // Driver code 
    public static void Main(String[] args) 
    { 
        int[] arr = { 9, 4, 9, 6, 7, 4 }; 
        int n = arr.Length; 
        Console.WriteLine(firstNonRepeating(arr, n)); 
    } 
} 
  
// This code has been contributed by 29AjayKumar 

Output:

Time Complexity: O(n)
Auxiliary Space: O(n)

Further Optimization: If array has many duplicates, we can also store index in hash table, using a hash table where value is a pair. Now we only need to traverse keys in hash table (not complete array) to find first non repeating.

Printing all non-repeating elements:

C++

// Efficient CPP program to print all non- 
// repeating elements. 
#include <bits/stdc++.h> 
using namespace std; 
  
void firstNonRepeating(int arr[], int n) 
{ 
    // Insert all array elements in hash 
    // table 
    unordered_map<int, int> mp; 
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) 
        mp[arr[i]]++; 
  
    // Traverse through map only and 
    for (auto x : mp) 
        if (x.second == 1) 
            cout << x.first << " "; 
} 
  
// Driver code 
int main() 
{ 
    int arr[] = { 9, 4, 9, 6, 7, 4 }; 
    int n = sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]); 
    firstNonRepeating(arr, n); 
    return 0; 
} 

Java

// Efficient Java program to print all non- 
// repeating elements. 
import java.util.*; 
  
class GFG { 
  
    static void firstNonRepeating(int arr[], int n) 
    { 
        // Insert all array elements in hash 
        // table 
        Map<Integer, Integer> m = new HashMap<>(); 
        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) { 
            if (m.containsKey(arr[i])) { 
                m.put(arr[i], m.get(arr[i]) + 1); 
            } 
            else { 
                m.put(arr[i], 1); 
            } 
        } 
  
        // Traverse through map only and 
        // using for-each loop for iteration over Map.entrySet() 
        for (Map.Entry<Integer, Integer> x : m.entrySet()) 
            if (x.getValue() == 1) 
                System.out.print(x.getKey() + " "); 
    } 
  
    // Driver code 
    public static void main(String[] args) 
    { 
        int arr[] = { 9, 4, 9, 6, 7, 4 }; 
        int n = arr.length; 
        firstNonRepeating(arr, n); 
    } 
} 
  
// This code has been contributed by 29AjayKumar 

Python3

# Efficient Python program to print all non- 
# repeating elements. 
  
def firstNonRepeating(arr, n): 
      
    # Insert all array elements in hash 
    # table 
    mp={} 
    for i in range(n): 
        if arr[i] not in mp: 
            mp[arr[i]]=0
        mp[arr[i]]+=1
          
    # Traverse through map only and 
    for x in mp: 
        if (mp[x]== 1): 
            print(x,end=" ") 
              
# Driver code 
arr = [ 9, 4, 9, 6, 7, 4 ] 
n = len(arr) 
firstNonRepeating(arr, n) 
   
# This code is contributed by shivanisinghss2110 

C#

// Efficient C# program to print all non- 
// repeating elements. 
using System; 
using System.Collections.Generic; 
  
class GFG { 
  
    static void firstNonRepeating(int[] arr, int n) 
    { 
        // Insert all array elements in hash 
        // table 
        Dictionary<int, int> m = new Dictionary<int, int>(); 
        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) { 
            if (m.ContainsKey(arr[i])) { 
                var val = m[arr[i]]; 
                m.Remove(arr[i]); 
                m.Add(arr[i], val + 1); 
            } 
            else { 
                m.Add(arr[i], 1); 
            } 
        } 
  
        // Traverse through map only and 
        // using for-each loop for iteration over Map.entrySet() 
        foreach(KeyValuePair<int, int> x in m) 
        { 
            if (x.Value == 1) { 
                Console.Write(x.Key + " "); 
            } 
        } 
    } 
  
    // Driver code 
    public static void Main(String[] args) 
    { 
        int[] arr = { 9, 4, 9, 6, 7, 4 }; 
        int n = arr.Length; 
        firstNonRepeating(arr, n); 
    } 
} 
  
/* This code contributed by PrinciRaj1992 */

Output:

7 6

Attention reader! Don’t stop learning now. Get hold of all the important DSA concepts with the DSA Self Paced Course at a student-friendly price and become industry ready.

My Personal Notes

Related Articles

Recommended: Please try your approach on {IDE} first, before moving on to the solution.

C++

Java

Python3

C#

PHP

C++

Java

Python3

C#

C++

Java

Python3

C#