436. Find Right Interval

Given a set of intervals, for each of the interval i, check if there exists an interval j whose start point is bigger than or equal to the end point of the interval i, which can be called that j is on the "right" of i.

For any interval i, you need to store the minimum interval j's index, which means that the interval j has the minimum start point to build the "right" relationship for interval i. If the interval j doesn't exist, store -1 for the interval i. Finally, you need output the stored value of each interval as an array.

Note:

1. You may assume the interval's end point is always bigger than its start point.
2. You may assume none of these intervals have the same start point.

Example 1:

Input: [ [1,2] ]

Output: [-1]

Explanation: There is only one interval in the collection, so it outputs -1.

Example 2:

Input: [ [3,4], [2,3], [1,2] ]

Output: [-1, 0, 1]

Explanation: There is no satisfied "right" interval for [3,4].
For [2,3], the interval [3,4] has minimum-"right" start point;
For [1,2], the interval [2,3] has minimum-"right" start point.

Example 3:

Input: [ [1,4], [2,3], [3,4] ]

Output: [-1, 2, -1]

Explanation: There is no satisfied "right" interval for [1,4] and [3,4].
For [2,3], the interval [3,4] has minimum-"right" start point.

思路一：暴力求解，两层for循环搞定，但是效率较低，可AC，程序如下所示：

/**
 * Definition for an interval.
 * public class Interval {
 *     int start;
 *     int end;
 *     Interval() { start = 0; end = 0; }
 *     Interval(int s, int e) { start = s; end = e; }
 * }
 */
class Solution {
    public int[] findRightInterval(Interval[] intervals) {
        int len = intervals.length;
        int[] res = new int[len];
        for (int i = 0; i < len; ++ i){
            int bias = Integer.MAX_VALUE, index = 0;
            for (int j = 0; j < len; ++ j){
                if (i == j){
                    continue;
                }
                if (intervals[j].start >= intervals[i].end){
                    if (bias > intervals[j].start - intervals[i].end){
                        bias = intervals[j].start - intervals[i].end;
                        index = j;
                    }
                }
            }
            res[i] = (bias == Integer.MAX_VALUE)?-1:index;
        }
        return res;
    }
}

思路二：因为题目说明了start值无重复，因此：

1、通过一个hashMap记录start到数组下标的映射

2、先将intervals按照start值排序，如[3,4],[2,3],[1,2]，排序后：[1, 2], [2, 3],[3, 4]

3、定义一层for循环，依次寻找各个区间对应的新的区间，如[1,2]对应区间为[2, 3]，[2, 3]对应区间[3, 4], [3, 4]对应null

4、根据hashMap值，在找到原始数组对应的下标值

后续有时间补上算法。