Sort Subarrays by Indices | Dataford Interview Questions

Myriad Genetics data-processing utilities may need to reorder only a selected range of values while leaving the rest of an array unchanged. Given an integer array and two inclusive indices, sort the specified subarray in ascending order in place.

Implement sort_subarray(nums, start, end). The function must modify nums directly and return the same list object. Values at indices less than start or greater than end must remain unchanged.

To demonstrate control over memory usage, use an in-place sorting algorithm with O(1) auxiliary space. Do not call Python's built-in sorting functions.

Formal Specification

Input: nums, a list of integers; start and end, integer indices defining an inclusive range.
Output: The modified nums list, with nums[start:end + 1] sorted in nondecreasing order.
The input range is guaranteed to be valid.

Constraints

1 <= len(nums) <= 10^5
0 <= start <= end < len(nums)
-10^9 <= nums[i] <= 10^9
The function must use O(1) auxiliary space
The range endpoints are inclusive and valid

Function Signature

def sort_subarray(nums, start, end):

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