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DSA Visualizations /

Overview of TechniquesOverview of Techniques14
❯

  1. 1Overview of DSA Problem Solving Techniques
  2. 2Brute Force Technique in DSA
  3. 3Greedy Algorithm Technique in DSA
  4. 4Divide and Conquer Technique in DSA
  5. 5Dynamic Programming Technique in DSA
  6. 6Backtracking Technique in DSA
  7. 7Recursion Technique in DSA
  8. 8Sliding Window Technique in DSA
  9. 9Two Pointers Technique
  10. 10Binary Search Technique
  11. 11Tree / Graph Traversal Technique in DSA
  12. 12Bit Manipulation Technique in DSA
  13. 13Hashing Technique
  14. 14Heaps Technique in DSA

SortingSorting10
❯

  1. 1Bubble Sort
  2. 2Selection Sort
  3. 3Insertion Sort
  4. 4Merge Sort
  5. 5Quick Sort
  6. 6Heap Sort
  7. 7Radix Sort
  8. 8Counting Sort
  9. 9Bucket Sort
  10. 10Shell Sort

ArraysArrays32
❯

  1. 1Find Maximum and Minimum in Array using Loop
  2. 2Find Second Largest in Array
  3. 3Find Second Smallest in Array
  4. 4Reverse Array using Two Pointers
  5. 5Check if Array is Sorted
  6. 6Remove Duplicates from Sorted Array
  7. 7Left Rotate an Array by One Place
  8. 8Left Rotate an Array by K Places
  9. 9Move Zeroes in Array to End
  10. 10Linear Search in Array
  11. 11Union of Two Arrays
  12. 12Find Missing Number in Array
  13. 13Max Consecutive Ones in Array
  14. 14Find Kth Smallest Element
  15. 15Longest Subarray with Given Sum (Positives)
  16. 16Longest Subarray with Given Sum (Positives and Negatives)
  17. 17Find Majority Element in Array (more than n/2 times)
  18. 18Find Majority Element in Array (more than n/3 times)
  19. 19Maximum Subarray Sum using Kadane's Algorithm
  20. 20Print Subarray with Maximum Sum
  21. 21Stock Buy and Sell
  22. 22Rearrange Array Alternating Positive and Negative Elements
  23. 23Next Permutation of Array
  24. 24Leaders in an Array
  25. 25Longest Consecutive Sequence in Array
  26. 26Count Subarrays with Given Sum
  27. 27Sort an Array of 0s, 1s, and 2s
  28. 28Two Sum Problem
  29. 29Three Sum Problem
  30. 304 Sum Problem
  31. 31Find Length of Largest Subarray with 0 Sum
  32. 32Find Maximum Product Subarray

Arrays - Binary SearchArrays - Binary Search28
❯

  1. 1Binary Search in Array<br><span class="highlight">Using Iteration</span>
  2. 2Find Lower Bound in Sorted Array
  3. 3Find Upper Bound in Sorted Array
  4. 4Search Insert Position in Sorted Array (Lower Bound Approach)
  5. 5Floor and Ceil in Sorted Array
  6. 6First Occurrence in a Sorted Array
  7. 7Last Occurrence in a Sorted Array
  8. 8Count Occurrences in Sorted Array
  9. 9Search Element in a Rotated Sorted Array
  10. 10Search in Rotated Sorted Array with Duplicates
  11. 11Minimum in Rotated Sorted Array
  12. 12Find Rotation Count in Sorted Array
  13. 13Search Single Element in Sorted Array
  14. 14Find Peak Element in Array
  15. 15Square Root using Binary Search
  16. 16Nth Root of a Number using Binary Search
  17. 17Koko Eating Bananas
  18. 18Minimum Days to Make M Bouquets
  19. 19Find the Smallest Divisor Given a Threshold
  20. 20Capacity to Ship Packages within D Days
  21. 21Kth Missing Positive Number
  22. 22Aggressive Cows Problem
  23. 23Allocate Minimum Number of Pages
  24. 24Split Array - Minimize Largest Sum
  25. 25Painter's Partition Problem
  26. 26Minimize Maximum Distance Between Gas Stations
  27. 27Median of Two Sorted Arrays of Different Sizes
  28. 28K-th Element of Two Sorted Arrays

StringsStrings2
❯

  1. 1Remove Outermost Parentheses in String
  2. 2Edit Distance Problem

MatrixMatrix3
❯

  1. 1Set Matrix Zeroes
  2. 2Rotate Matrix by 90 Degrees Clockwise
  3. 3Print Matrix in Spiral Manner

Matrix - Binary SearchMatrix - Binary Search5
❯

  1. 1Row with Maximum Number of 1's
  2. 2Search in a Sorted 2D Matrix
  3. 3Search in Row and Column-wise Sorted Matrix
  4. 4Find Target in 2D Matrix
  5. 5Matrix Median

Binary TreesBinary Trees36
❯

  1. 1Preorder Traversal of a Binary Tree using Recursion
  2. 2Preorder Traversal of a Binary Tree using Iteration
  3. 3Postorder Traversal of a Binary Tree Using Recursion
  4. 4Postorder Traversal of a Binary Tree using Iteration
  5. 5Level Order Traversal of a Binary Tree using Recursion
  6. 6Level Order Traversal of a Binary Tree using Iteration
  7. 7Reverse Level Order Traversal of a Binary Tree using Iteration
  8. 8Reverse Level Order Traversal of a Binary Tree using Recursion
  9. 9Find Height of a Binary Tree
  10. 10Find Diameter of a Binary Tree
  11. 11Find Mirror of a Binary Tree - Todo
  12. 12Inorder Traversal of a Binary Tree using Recursion
  13. 13Inorder Traversal of a Binary Tree using Iteration
  14. 14Left View of a Binary Tree
  15. 15Right View of a Binary Tree
  16. 16Top View of a Binary Tree
  17. 17Bottom View of a Binary Tree
  18. 18Zigzag Traversal of a Binary Tree
  19. 19Check if a Binary Tree is Balanced
  20. 20Diagonal Traversal of a Binary Tree
  21. 21Boundary Traversal of a Binary Tree
  22. 22Construct a Binary Tree from a String with Bracket Representation
  23. 23Convert a Binary Tree into a Doubly Linked List
  24. 24Convert a Binary Tree into a Sum Tree
  25. 25Find Minimum Swaps Required to Convert a Binary Tree into a BST
  26. 26Check if a Binary Tree is a Sum Tree
  27. 27Check if All Leaf Nodes are at the Same Level in a Binary Tree
  28. 28Lowest Common Ancestor (LCA) in a Binary Tree
  29. 29Solve the Tree Isomorphism Problem
  30. 30Check if a Binary Tree Contains Duplicate Subtrees of Size 2 or More
  31. 31Check if Two Binary Trees are Mirror Images
  32. 32Calculate the Sum of Nodes on the Longest Path from Root to Leaf in a Binary Tree
  33. 33Print All Paths in a Binary Tree with a Given Sum
  34. 34Find the Distance Between Two Nodes in a Binary Tree
  35. 35Find the kth Ancestor of a Node in a Binary Tree
  36. 36Find All Duplicate Subtrees in a Binary Tree

Binary Search TreesBinary Search Trees14
❯

  1. 1Find a Value in a Binary Search Tree
  2. 2Delete a Node in a Binary Search Tree
  3. 3Find the Minimum Value in a Binary Search Tree
  4. 4Find the Maximum Value in a Binary Search Tree
  5. 5Find the Inorder Successor in a Binary Search Tree
  6. 6Find the Inorder Predecessor in a Binary Search Tree
  7. 7Check if a Binary Tree is a Binary Search Tree
  8. 8Find the Lowest Common Ancestor of Two Nodes in a Binary Search Tree
  9. 9Convert a Binary Tree into a Binary Search Tree
  10. 10Balance a Binary Search Tree
  11. 11Merge Two Binary Search Trees
  12. 12Find the kth Largest Element in a Binary Search Tree
  13. 13Find the kth Smallest Element in a Binary Search Tree
  14. 14Flatten a Binary Search Tree into a Sorted List

Find All Unique Triplets That Sum to Zero
Optimal Solution using Two Pointers

Topic Contents

ProblemExamplesSolutionCodeTime ComplexitySpace Complexity

Problem Statement

Given an array of integers, your task is to find all the unique triplets (a, b, c) in the array such that:

If no such triplets exist, return an empty list.

Examples❯

Input ArrayOutput TripletsDescription
[-1, 0, 1, 2, -1, -4][[-1, -1, 2], [-1, 0, 1]]Two unique triplets sum up to 0
[0, 1, 1][]No triplet sums to zero
[0, 0, 0][[0, 0, 0]]Three zeroes sum to zero, one valid triplet
[3, -2, 1, 0][[-2, -1, 3]]Triplet [-2, -1, 3] gives zero
[1, -1][]Only two elements, not enough for a triplet
[][]Empty input, return empty list
[-2, 0, 1, 1, 2][[-2, 0, 2], [-2, 1, 1]]Two triplets, handles duplicates correctly

Solution❯

The Three Sum problem asks us to find all unique triplets in an array that sum to zero. Since checking all combinations would be too slow for large arrays, we use a more efficient approach by combining sorting with the two-pointer technique.

Understanding the Problem

We are looking for three numbers (a, b, c) such that a + b + c = 0. Importantly, we must not return duplicate triplets. This means if two triplets contain the same numbers in the same order, we should only return one of them.

How We Solve It

First, we sort the input array. This helps us identify and skip duplicates easily and apply the two-pointer strategy efficiently.

We fix one number at a time using a loop (let's call it i) and then look for the other two numbers using two pointers: left starting from i + 1 and right starting from the end of the array.

Depending on the total sum of arr[i] + arr[left] + arr[right], we have three scenarios:

  • If the sum is 0: It's a valid triplet. We add it to the result and skip any duplicate values to avoid repeating the same triplet.
  • If the sum is less than 0: It means the numbers are too small. We move the left pointer to the right to increase the sum.
  • If the sum is greater than 0: It means the numbers are too large. We move the right pointer to the left to reduce the sum.

Handling Edge Cases

  • If the array has less than three elements, it's impossible to form a triplet—return an empty list.
  • If all elements are zero and there are at least three of them, then [0, 0, 0] is the only valid triplet.
  • If the array is empty, simply return an empty list.
  • We must be careful not to include duplicate triplets, which is why we skip over elements that are the same as the previous one (for i, left, and right).

This optimal method ensures that the time complexity is O(n²) instead of the brute force O(n³), making it suitable for large inputs.

Algorithm Steps

  1. Given an array arr of integers.
  2. Sort the array in ascending order.
  3. Traverse the array with index i from 0 to n-2:
  4. → If i > 0 and arr[i] == arr[i-1], skip to avoid duplicates.
  5. → Initialize two pointers: left = i + 1 and right = n - 1.
  6. → While left < right:
  7. → → Calculate the sum: arr[i] + arr[left] + arr[right].
  8. → → If sum is zero, add triplet to result and move left and right to skip duplicates.
  9. → → If sum < 0, move left forward.
  10. → → If sum > 0, move right backward.
  11. Return the list of unique triplets.

Code

Python
JavaScript
Java
C++
C
def three_sum(nums):
    nums.sort()
    result = []
    n = len(nums)

    for i in range(n-2):
        if i > 0 and nums[i] == nums[i-1]:
            continue
        left, right = i+1, n-1
        while left < right:
            total = nums[i] + nums[left] + nums[right]
            if total == 0:
                result.append([nums[i], nums[left], nums[right]])
                while left < right and nums[left] == nums[left+1]:
                    left += 1
                while left < right and nums[right] == nums[right-1]:
                    right -= 1
                left += 1
                right -= 1
            elif total < 0:
                left += 1
            else:
                right -= 1
    return result

# Sample Input
arr = [-1, 0, 1, 2, -1, -4]
print("Triplets:", three_sum(arr))

Time Complexity

CaseTime ComplexityExplanation
Best CaseO(n^2)In the best case, the input is small or contains many duplicate values that allow early skips, but the dominant term is still the nested loop structure with two pointers.
Average CaseO(n^2)We sort the array in O(n log n) and then use a loop with a two-pointer technique inside, which takes O(n^2) in total.
Average CaseO(n^2)Even in the worst case with no duplicate skipping and all combinations needing to be checked, the time complexity remains O(n^2) due to the nested traversal using two pointers.

Space Complexity

O(1)

Explanation: The algorithm uses constant extra space apart from the output list. Sorting is done in-place and only a few variables (i, left, right) are used.

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