Select a Ranked Large Decimal Integer
Company: Meta
Role: Software Engineer
Category: Coding & Algorithms
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
### Problem
Each entry in `nums` is a nonnegative integer represented as a decimal string without leading zeros. Return the representation of the `k`-th largest entry. Duplicate entries occupy separate ranks, and representations may be too long for a machine integer.
```cpp
class Solution {
public:
string kthLargestNumber(vector<string>& nums, int k);
};
```
### Examples
**Example 1:**
```text
nums = ["9","100","22","22"], k = 3
Output: "22"
Explanation: Descending order is 100,22,22,9.
```
**Example 2:**
```text
nums = ["7","0","45"], k = 2
Output: "7"
Explanation: 45 is larger and 0 is smaller.
```
### Constraints
- `1 <= k <= nums.length <= 10^4`.
- Each string has 1 to 100 decimal digits and no leading zeros.
### Clarifying Questions
The single digit zero is valid. Do not deduplicate before selecting a rank.
```hint Inspect the structure
How do string length and lexicographic order combine into numerical order?
```
### Reasoning checkpoints
- Order entries by numerical value across the full permitted string length, without losing precision.
- Preserve duplicate multiplicity and handle valid representations of zero when selecting the requested rank.
### Optional extensions
How could you find the rank in a stream without retaining every entry?
Overview: Select a Ranked Large Decimal Integer. Each entry of nums is a nonnegative decimal integer written without leading zeros. Return the string representing the k-th largest entry, counting duplicate entries as separate ranks. Values may be too long for machine integer types.