I have a list of tuples where each tuple is a (start-time, end-time)
. I am trying to merge all overlapping time ranges and return a list of distinct time ranges.
For example
[(1, 5), (2, 4), (3, 6)] ---> [(1,6)]
[(1, 3), (2, 4), (5, 8)] ---> [(1, 4), (5,8)]
Here is how I implemented it.
# Algorithm
# initialranges: [(a,b), (c,d), (e,f), ...]
# First we sort each tuple then whole list.
# This will ensure that a<b, c<d, e<f ... and a < c < e ...
# BUT the order of b, d, f ... is still random
# Now we have only 3 possibilities
#================================================
# b<c<d: a-------b Ans: [(a,b),(c,d)]
# c---d
# c<=b<d: a-------b Ans: [(a,d)]
# c---d
# c<d<b: a-------b Ans: [(a,b)]
# c---d
#================================================
def mergeoverlapping(initialranges):
i = sorted(set([tuple(sorted(x)) for x in initialranges]))
# initialize final ranges to [(a,b)]
f = [i[0]]
for c, d in i[1:]:
a, b = f[-1]
if c<=b<d:
f[-1] = a, d
elif b<c<d:
f.append((c,d))
else:
# else case included for clarity. Since
# we already sorted the tuples and the list
# only remaining possibility is c<d<b
# in which case we can silently pass
pass
return f
I am trying to figure out if
- Is the a an built-in function in some python module that can do this more efficiently? or
- Is there a more pythonic way of accomplishing the same goal?
Your help is appreciated. Thanks!