Minimum Absolute Difference Queries LeetCode solution in Python

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class Solution:
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    def minDifference(self, nums: List[int], queries: List[List[int]]) -> List[int]:
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        # location of number
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        loc = defaultdict(list)
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        for i, num in enumerate(nums):
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            loc[num].append(i)
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        # start from sorted key thus keep tracking minimum difference
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        k = sorted(loc)
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        res = []
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        for a, b in queries:
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            cands = []
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            ans = float("inf")
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            for c in k:
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                # left and right range overlap means no available locations in range
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                if bisect.bisect_left(loc[c], a) == bisect.bisect(loc[c], b):
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                    continue
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                if cands:
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                    ans = min(ans, c - cands[-1])
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                cands.append(c)
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            if ans == float("inf"):
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                ans = -1
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            res.append(ans)
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        return res