Merge Intervals

Given a collection of intervals, merge all overlapping intervals.

For example,
Given [1,3],[2,6],[8,10],[15,18],
return [1,6],[8,10],[15,18].

Analysis: 

1. Sorting each intervals in ascending order. We can either define a class which implements Comparator interface or define a anonymous class. 

2. Merging. Note that there will be lots of cases. We only add the merged interval into the result list when a.end<b.start. Remember to add interval a in the end. 

/**
 * Definition for an interval.
 * public class Interval {
 *     int start;
 *     int end;
 *     Interval() { start = 0; end = 0; }
 *     Interval(int s, int e) { start = s; end = e; }
 * }
 */
public class Solution {
    /*
    class IntervalComparator implements Comparator<Interval> {
        public int compare(Interval a, Interval b) {
            return a.start - b.start;       // ASC order
        }
    }
    */
    
    public ArrayList<Interval> merge(ArrayList<Interval> intervals) {
        if(intervals.size()<=1) return intervals;
        
        ArrayList<Interval> res = new ArrayList<Interval>();
        Collections.sort(intervals, new Comparator<Interval>(){     // sorting based on the first element
            public int compare(Interval a, Interval b) {
                return a.start-b.start;      // ascending order
            }
        });
        Interval a = intervals.get(0);
        for(int i=1; i<=intervals.size()-1; i++) {
            Interval b = intervals.get(i);
            if(a.end < b.start) {   // cannot be merged
                res.add(a);
                a = b;
            }
            else if(a.end == b.start) {
                a.end = b.end;
            }
            else if(a.end > b.start) {
                if(a.end<b.end) a.end=b.end;
                else continue;
            }
        }
        res.add(a);
        
        return res;
    }
}