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First Repeating Element in Array
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First Repeating Element in Array

MediumPython

Problem

Implement a function to find the first repeating element in an array.

Return the element whose first occurrence has the smallest index among all repeated values. Return -1 if every element is unique.

Input: a list of integers. Output: an integer.

Examples: [10, 5, 3, 4, 3, 5, 6] returns 5; [1, 2, 3, 4] returns -1.

Constraints: the array contains 1 to 1,000 integers, and values may be negative.

Constraints

  • 1 <= nums.length <= 1000
  • -10^9 <= nums[i] <= 10^9
  • Return -1 when no element repeats

Function Signature

def first_repeating_element(nums):
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