leetcode #54 in cpp

Given a matrix of m x n elements (m rows, n columns), return all elements of the matrix in spiral order.

For example,
Given the following matrix:

[
 [ 1, 2, 3 ],
 [ 4, 5, 6 ],
 [ 7, 8, 9 ]
]

You should return [1,2,3,6,9,8,7,4,5].

Solution: 

we can collect the borders of the matrix, and then go collect the borders of the submatrix. Repeating collecting the border of submatrix gives us the number in spiral order. 

Code:

class Solution {
public:
    vector<int> spiralOrder(vector<vector<int>>& matrix) {
        vector<int> res;
        if(matrix.empty()) return res;
        dfs(matrix, 0,0, matrix.size() - 1, matrix[0].size() - 1, &res);
        return res;
    }
    void dfs(vector<vector<int>>& matrix, int r_start, int c_start, int r_end, int c_end, vector<int> *res){
        if(r_start > r_end || c_start > c_end) return;
        int r = r_start;
        int c = c_start;
       
        //go right 
        while(c <= c_end){
            res->push_back(matrix[r][c]);
            c++;
        }
        //go down
        c = c_end;
        r = r_start  + 1;
        while(r<=r_end){
            res->push_back(matrix[r][c]);
            r++;
        }
        //go left
        c = c_end - 1;
        r = r_end;
        while(c>=c_start && r != r_start){//r!=r_start is to check we are not going back the same row from right to left
            res->push_back(matrix[r][c]);
            c--;
        }
        //go up
        c = c_start;
        r = r_end - 1;
        while(r>r_start && c!=c_end){//check if we are going back the same column bottom to top
            res->push_back(matrix[r][c]);
            r--;
        }
<span style="white-space:pre">	</span>//go the next submatrix
        dfs(matrix, r_start + 1, c_start + 1, r_end - 1, c_end - 1, res);
        
    }
};