Imports System
Imports System.Linq
'
' Create a sorted unique array (arr) from a matrix (arr of arr).
' Steps:
' 1. Flatten matrix into arr
' 2. Sort arr (Array.Sort)
' 3. Remove duplicates (Distinct)
'
Module SortedUniqueArrFromMatrix
' Flatten + sort + unique
Function MakeSortedUniqueArr(mat As Integer(,)) As Integer()
Dim rows As Integer = mat.GetLength(0)
Dim cols As Integer = mat.GetLength(1)
Dim total As Integer = rows * cols
' Allocate arr large enough for all elements
Dim arr(total - 1) As Integer
' Flatten matrix into arr
Dim k As Integer = 0
For r As Integer = 0 To rows - 1
For c As Integer = 0 To cols - 1
arr(k) = mat(r, c)
k += 1
Next
Next
' Sort arr
Array.Sort(arr)
' Remove duplicates and return resized arr
Return arr.Distinct().ToArray()
End Function
Sub Main()
Dim mat As Integer(,) = {
{5, 1, 17, 3, 8, 2, 1, 9},
{3, 5, 7, 4, 2, 3, 4, 1},
{9, 1, 8, 2, 3, 88, 17, 5}
}
Dim arr As Integer() = MakeSortedUniqueArr(mat)
For Each x In arr
Console.Write(x & " ")
Next
End Sub
End Module
' run:
'
' 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 17 88
'
