1768. Merge Strings Alternately(Solution || Leetcode easy || Java)

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

Constraints:

• 1 <= word1.length, word2.length <= 100
• word1 and word2 consist of lowercase English letters.

SOLUTION:

class Solution {
    public String mergeAlternately(String word1, String word2) {
//Create stringbuilder to consume less space during updation of string
        StringBuilder ans = new StringBuilder();
        
        int i = 0; 
        int j = 0;
        
        while(i+j < word1.length() + word2.length()){
            if(i < word1.length()){
                ans.append(word1.charAt(i));
                i++;
                
                if(j < word2.length()){
                    ans.append(word2.charAt(j));
                    j++;
                }
      }
            else{
                ans.append(word2.charAt(j));
                j++;
            }
        }
        
        
        return ans.toString();
    }
}

Runtime: 1 ms, faster than 92.70% of Java online submissions for Merge Strings Alternately.

Memory Usage: 40.3 MB, less than 95.13% of Java online submissions for Merge Strings Alternately.

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