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Quick Summary

Find the length of the shortest contiguous subarray containing at least k distinct integers.
Dynamically adjust the window boundaries to maintain the distinct count constraint.
Return -1 if the entire array lacks enough unique elements to form a valid subarray.

What This Tests

Dynamic window management with two pointers
Frequency tracking using hash maps or fixed-size arrays
Optimizing beyond brute-force range checking
Edge case handling for minimal windows and duplicate-heavy inputs

Common Patterns

Sliding Window

Two Pointers

Hashing

Test Cases

Input

Output

Expected