How to combine overlapping time ranges (time ranges union)

Question

I have an array with several time ranges inside:

[Tue, 24 May 2011 08:00:00 CEST +02:00..Tue, 24 May 2011 13:00:00 CEST +02:00,
 Tue, 24 May 2011 16:30:00 CE         


        

Answer 1

Dont you just want to find the smallest first value and the largest last value from the set of arrays?

ranges = [Tue, 24 May 2011 08:00:00 CEST +02:00..Tue, 24 May 2011 13:00:00 CEST +02:00,
 Tue, 24 May 2011 16:30:00 CEST +02:00..Tue, 24 May 2011 18:00:00 CEST +02:00,
 Tue, 24 May 2011 08:00:00 CEST +02:00..Tue, 24 May 2011 09:00:00 CEST +02:00,
 Tue, 24 May 2011 15:30:00 CEST +02:00..Tue, 24 May 2011 18:00:00 CEST +02:00]

union = [ranges.collect(&:first).sort.first, ranges.collect(&:last).sort.last]

Answer 2

The gem range_operators does a wonderful job by adding missing features to the Ruby Range class. It is way smaller than adding the whole facets gem.

I your case the solution would be the rangify method, which is added to the Array class and would do exactly what you are looking for.

Answer 3

Given a function that returns truthy if two ranges overlap:

def ranges_overlap?(a, b)
  a.include?(b.begin) || b.include?(a.begin)
end

(this function courtesy of sepp2k and steenslag)

and a function that merges two overlapping ranges:

def merge_ranges(a, b)
  [a.begin, b.begin].min..[a.end, b.end].max
end

then this function, given an array of ranges, returns a new array with any overlapping ranges merged:

def merge_overlapping_ranges(overlapping_ranges)
  overlapping_ranges.sort_by(&:begin).inject([]) do |ranges, range|
    if !ranges.empty? && ranges_overlap?(ranges.last, range)
      ranges[0...-1] + [merge_ranges(ranges.last, range)]
    else
      ranges + [range]
    end
  end
end

Answer 4

Some kind of algorithm that might help:

Sort range array by start time (r1, r2, r3, r4, .. rn)

for each range pair [r1, r2], [r2, r3] .. [rn-1, rn]:
    if r1_end > r2_start: # they overlap
        add [r1_start, r2_end] to new range array
    else: # they do not overlap
        add [r1] and [r2] to new range array (no changes)

startover with the new range array until no more changes