4Sum

Given an array S of n integers, are there elements a, b, c, and d in S such that a + b + c + d = target? Find all unique quadruplets in the array which gives the sum of target.

For example, given array S = [1, 0, -1, 0, -2, 2], and target = 0.

A solution set is:
[
  [-1,  0, 0, 1],
  [-2, -1, 1, 2],
  [-2,  0, 0, 2]
]

这道题刚开始是用3Sum那道题的思想去写的，但是却TimeLimited，不过可以放在这里供自己和他人去看这个算法的思想。

public class Solution 
{
    public List<List<Integer>> fourSum(int[] nums, int target)
	{
		List<List<Integer>> result = new ArrayList<List<Integer>>();
		Arrays.sort(nums);

		for (int i = 0; i < nums.length - 3; i++)
		{
			for (int j = i + 1; j < nums.length - 2; j++)
			{
				int l = j + 1;
				int r = nums.length - 1;

				while (l < r)
				{
					int sum = nums[i] + nums[j] + nums[l] + nums[r];

					if (sum == target)
					{
					    List<Integer> group = new ArrayList<>();
						group.add(nums[i]);
						group.add(nums[j]);
						group.add(nums[l]);
						group.add(nums[r]);
						result.add(group);
						l++;
						r--;
						while (l < r)
						{
							if (nums[l] == nums[l - 1])
								l++;
							if (nums[r] == nums[r - 1])
								r--;
						}
					}
					else if (sum < target)
					{
						l++;
					}
					else
					{
						r--;
					}
				}

			}
		}
		return result;
	}
}

后来去讨论区参考了一下别人的代码，想法确实挺新颖的：

package com.alibaba.learning;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

public class Solution
{
	public List<List<Integer>> fourSum(int[] nums, int target)
	{
		ArrayList<List<Integer>> res = new ArrayList<>();
		int len = nums.length;

		if (nums == null || nums.length < 4)
			return res;

		Arrays.sort(nums);
		int max = nums[len - 1];

		if (4 * nums[0] > target || 4 * max < target)
			return res;

		int i, z;
		for (i = 0; i < len; i++)
		{
			z = nums[i];

			if (i > 0 && z == nums[i - 1]) // 排除相同元素 保持输出结果元素的唯一性
				continue;
			if (z + 3 * max < target)
				continue;
			if (4 * z > target)
				break;
			if (4 * z == target) // z是临界值
			{
				if (i + 3 < len && nums[i + 3] == z)
					res.add(Arrays.asList(z, z, z, z));
				break;
			}

			threeSumForFourSum(nums, target - z, i + 1, len - 1, res, z);
		}
		return res;
	}

	public void threeSumForFourSum(int[] nums, int target, int low, int high, ArrayList<List<Integer>> fourSumList,
			int z1)
	{
		if (low + 1 >= high)
			return;
		int max = nums[high];

		if (3 * nums[low] > target || 3 * nums[high] < target)
			return;

		int i, z;

		for (i = low; i < high - 1; i++)
		{
			z = nums[i];
			if (i > low && z == nums[i - 1])
				continue;
			if (z + 2 * max < target)
				continue;
			if (3 * z > target)
				break;
			if (3 * z == target)
			{
				if (i + 1 < high && nums[i + 2] == z)
					fourSumList.add(Arrays.asList(z, z, z));
				break;
			}

			twoSumForFourSum(nums, target - z, i + 1, high, fourSumList, z1, z);

		}
	}

	public void twoSumForFourSum(int[] nums, int target, int low, int high, ArrayList<List<Integer>> fourSumList,
			int z1, int z2)
	{
		if (low >= high)
			return;

		if (2 * nums[low] > target || 2 * nums[high] < target)
			return;

		int i = low, j = high, sum, x;
		while (i < j)
		{
			sum = nums[i] + nums[j];
			if (sum == target)
			{
				fourSumList.add(Arrays.asList(z1, z2, nums[i], nums[j]));

				x = nums[i];
				while (++i < j && x == nums[i]) // avoid duplicate
					;
				x = nums[j];
				while (i < --j && x == nums[j]) // avoid duplicate
					;
			}
			if (sum < target)
				i++;
			if (sum > target)
				j--;
		}
		return;
	}
}