You are given two strings word1 and word2. Merge the strings by adding letters in alternating order, starting with word1. If a string is longer than the other, append the additional letters onto the end of the merged string.
Return the merged string.
Example 1:
Input: word1 = "abc", word2 = "pqr"
Output: "apbqcr"
Explanation: The merged string will be merged as so:
word1: a b c
word2: p q r
merged: a p b q c r
Example 2:
Input: word1 = "ab", word2 = "pqrs"
Output: "apbqrs"
Explanation: Notice that as word2 is longer, "rs" is appended to the end.
word1: a b
word2: p q r s
merged: a p b q r s
Example 3:
Input: word1 = "abcd", word2 = "pq"
Output: "apbqcd"
Explanation: Notice that as word1 is longer, "cd" is appended to the end.
word1: a b c d
word2: p q
merged: a p b q c d
Time complexity: O(n)
Space complexity: O(n)
class Solution(object):
def mergeAlternately(self, word1, word2):
"""
:type word1: str
:type word2: str
:rtype: str
"""
str = ""
i = 0
j = 0
while(i!=len(word1) or j!=len(word2)):
if i!=len(word1):
str += word1[i]
i+=1
if j != len(word2):
str += word2[j]
j+=1
return str
class Solution(object):
def mergeAlternately(self, word1, word2):
"""
:type word1: str
:type word2: str
:rtype: str
"""
## One pointer solution
str = ""
for i in range(max(len(word1), len(word2))):
if i < len(word1):
str += word1[i]
if i < len(word2):
str += word2[i]
return str