301. Remove Invalid Parentheses

Problem

Remove the minimum number of invalid parentheses in order to make the input string valid. Return all possible results.

Note: The input string may contain letters other than the parentheses ( and ).

Examples:

"()())()" -> ["()()()", "(())()"]
"(a)())()" -> ["(a)()()", "(a())()"]
")(" -> [""]

Solution 

一开始看到这道题卡住了

最主要是没想到这个辅助函数 findNumToRemove , 来算出要删除左括号和右括号的个数 （ rmLeft 和 rmRight）.

得到这两个变量就好办了，就是典型的backtracking ：遇到左括号，要么删除（rmLeft - 1）, 要么就加到一个可能的结果里； 右括号同理；其它字符就照收

还需要注意几点：

1. 需要一个变量 open来确保是合法的一系列括号。

2. 需要用unordered_set 来存结果，因为有可能重复。

class Solution {
    void findNumToRemove(const string& str, int& rmLeft, int& rmRight){
        for( char c : str){
            if( c == '(' ){
                rmLeft++;
            }
            else if( c == ')' ){
                if(rmLeft > 0) {
                    rmLeft--;
                }
                else {
                    rmRight++;
                }
            }
        }
    }
    
    void helper( const string& str, int rmLeft, int rmRight, int idx, int open,string oneRst, set<string>& rst){
        if(idx == str.size() && rmLeft == 0 && rmRight == 0 && open == 0){
            rst.insert(oneRst);
            return;
        }
        if(rmLeft < 0 || rmRight < 0 || idx == str.size() || open < 0 ) return;
        
        char c = str[idx];
        if( c == '(' ) {
            helper(str, rmLeft, rmRight, idx + 1, open + 1, oneRst + c, rst); // take it
            helper(str, rmLeft - 1, rmRight, idx + 1, open, oneRst, rst);     // remove it
        }
        else if( c == ')' ) {
            helper(str, rmLeft, rmRight, idx + 1, open - 1, oneRst + c, rst); //take it
            helper(str, rmLeft, rmRight - 1, idx + 1, open , oneRst, rst);    //remove it
        }
        else {
            helper(str, rmLeft, rmRight, idx + 1, open, oneRst + c, rst);
        }
    }
    
public:
    vector<string> removeInvalidParentheses(string s) {
        int rmLeft = 0, rmRight = 0;
        findNumToRemove(s, rmLeft, rmRight);
        
        set<string> rst;
        helper(s, rmLeft, rmRight, 0, 0, string(), rst);
        
        return vector<string> (rst.begin(), rst.end());
    }
};

This solution inspired me :   https://leetcode.com/discuss/72208/easiest-9ms-java-solution