# std::merge

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< cpp‎ | algorithm

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 ExecutionPolicy, class ForwardIt1, class ForwardIt2, class ForwardIt3 > ForwardIt3 merge( ExecutionPolicy&& policy, ForwardIt1 first1, ForwardIt1 last1, ForwardIt2 first2, ForwardIt2 last2, ForwardIt3 d_first ); | (2) | (since C++17)
template< class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt, class Compare> OutputIt merge( InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1, InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2, OutputIt d_first, Compare comp ); | (3) |
template< class ExecutionPolicy, class ForwardIt1, class ForwardIt2, class ForwardIt3, class Compare> ForwardIt3 merge( ExecutionPolicy&& policy, ForwardIt1 first1, ForwardIt1 last1, ForwardIt2 first2, ForwardIt2 last2, ForwardIt3 d_first, Compare comp ); | (4) | (since C++17)

Merges two sorted ranges `[first1, last1)` and `[first2, last2)` into one sorted range beginning at `d_first`.

1) Elements are compared using `operator<`.
3) Elements are compared using the given binary comparison function `comp`.
2,4) Same as (1,3), but executed according to `policy`. This overload only participates in overload resolution if std::is_execution_policy_v<std::decay_t<ExecutionPolicy>> is true

For equivalent elements in the original two ranges, the elements from the first range (preserving their original order) precede the elements from the second range (preserving their original order).

The behavior is undefined if the destination range overlaps either of the input ranges (the input ranges may overlap each other).

### Parameters

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
policy | - | the execution policy to use. See execution policy for details.

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 both Type1 and Type2. ​

Type requirements
- `InputIt1, InputIt2` must meet the requirements of `InputIterator`.
- `ForwardIt1, ForwardIt2, ForwardIt3` must meet the requirements of `ForwardIterator`.
- `OutputIt` must meet the requirements of `OutputIterator`.

### Return value

An output iterator to element past the last element copied.

### Complexity

1,3) At most std::distance(first1, last1) + std::distance(first2, last2) - 1 comparisons.
2,4) O(std::distance(last1, first1) + std::distance(last2, first2))

### Exceptions

The overloads with a template parameter named `ExecutionPolicy` report errors as follows:

- If execution of a function invoked as part of the algorithm throws an exception and `ExecutionPolicy` is one of the three standard policies, std::terminate is called. For any other `ExecutionPolicy`, the behavior is implementation-defined.
- If the algorithm fails to allocate memory, std::bad_alloc is thrown.

### Notes

This algorithm performs a similar task as std::set_union does. Both consume two sorted input ranges and produce a sorted output with elements from both inputs. The difference between these two algorithms is with handling values from both input ranges which compare equivalent (see notes on `LessThanComparable`). If any equivalent values appeared `n` times in the first range and `m` times in the second, `std::merge` would output all n+m occurrences whereas `std::set_union` would output std::max(n, m) ones only. So `std::merge` outputs exactly std::distance(first1, last1) + std::distance(first2, last2) values and `std::set_union` may produce less.

### 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);
    }

### Example

Run this code

    #include <iostream>
    #include <iterator>
    #include <algorithm>
    #include <vector>
    #include <random>
    #include <functional>

    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

### See also

inplace_merge | merges two ordered ranges in-place (function template)
set_union | computes the union of two sets (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)

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