1768. Merge Strings

You are given two strings word1 and word2. Merge the strings by adding letters in alternating order, starting with word1. If a string is longer than the other, append the additional letters onto the end of the merged string.

Return the merged string.

Example 1:

Input: word1 = "abc", word2 = "pqr"
Output: "apbqcr"
Explanation: The merged string will be merged as so:
word1: a b c
word2: p q r
merged: a p b q c r

Example 2:

Input: word1 = "ab", word2 = "pqrs"
Output: "apbqrs"
Explanation: Notice that as word2 is longer, "rs" is appended to the end.
word1: a b
word2: p q r s
merged: a p b q r s

Example 3:

Input: word1 = "abcd", word2 = "pq"
Output: "apbqcd"
Explanation: Notice that as word1 is longer, "cd" is appended to the end.
word1: a b c d
word2: p q
merged: a p b q c d

def mergeAlternately(self, word1: str, word2: str) -> str:
	result = []
	i = 0
	while i < len(word1) or i < len(word2):
		if i < len(word1):
			result.append(word1[i])
		if i < len(word2):
			result.append(word2[i])
		i += 1
	return ''.join(result)