PROBLEM:
Given a list of sorted characters letters
containing only lowercase letters, and given a target letter target
, find the smallest element in the list that is larger than the given target.
Letters also wrap around. For example, if the target is target = 'z'
and letters = ['a', 'b']
, the answer is 'a'
.
Examples:
Input:
letters = ["c", "f", "j"]
target = "a"
Output: "c"
Input:
letters = ["c", "f", "j"]
target = "c"
Output: "f"
Input:
letters = ["c", "f", "j"]
target = "d"
Output: "f"
Input:
letters = ["c", "f", "j"]
target = "g"
Output: "j"
Input:
letters = ["c", "f", "j"]
target = "j"
Output: "c"
Input:
letters = ["c", "f", "j"]
target = "k"
Output: "c"
Note:
letters
has a length in range[2, 10000]
.letters
consists of lowercase letters, and contains at least 2 unique letters.target
is a lowercase letter.
SOLVE:
class Solution {
public:
char nextGreatestLetter(vector<char>& letters, char target) {
if (letters.back() <= target) return letters.front();
int low = 0, high = letters.size() - 1;
while (low < high) {
auto mid = (low + high) / 2;
if (target < letters[mid]) high = mid;
else low = mid + 1;
}
return letters[low];
}
};
分析:用二分查找效率是最高的。这里需要注意:当target==mid时,和target>mid时是一样的,所需要的输出至少都是下一个;其次还要注意这里可能会有多个值重复,所以不能在target==mid时直接输出下一个字符,很可能还是target!
总结:定义mid=start+(end-start)/2(如果写成mid=(end+start)/2的话可能会发生溢出)的情况下,如果缩小区间表达式为{end=mid-1//start=mid+1},最后的终止判定条件是start>=end;如果缩小区间表达式为{end=mid//start=mid+1}({end=mid-1//start=mid}不行,假设),最后的终止判定条件是start==end,当然start>=end也没错;如果缩小区间表达式为{end=mid//start=mid},最后的终止判定条件为start=end-1。