Coding - Minimum Length Subarray With At Least K Distinct Integers

Problem Statement

Given an array nums of integers and an integer k, find the length of the smallest subarray within nums that contains at least k distinct integers.

Examples

Example 1:

Input: nums = [1,2,1,3,4], k = 3 Output: 2 Explanation: The shortest subarray is [3,4] of length 2, which contains 3 distinct integers: 3, 4, and 1 (from the previous elements).

Example 2:

Input: nums = [1,2,3,4,5], k = 3 Output: 1 Explanation: The shortest subarray is [5], which contains 3 distinct integers: 5, 1, and 2 (from the previous elements).

Constraints

• 1 <= nums.length <= 10^5
• 1 <= nums[i] <= 10^9
• 1 <= k <= nums.length

Hints

• Use a sliding window approach to solve this problem.
• Keep track of the number of distinct elements in the current window and try to minimize the window size.