#33 N-Queens

题目描述：

The n-queens puzzle is the problem of placing n queens on an n×n chessboard such that no two queens attack each other.

Given an integer n, return all distinct solutions to the n-queens puzzle.

Each solution contains a distinct board configuration of the n-queens' placement, where 'Q' and '.' both indicate a queen and an empty space respectively.

Have you met this question in a real interview? 

Yes

Example

There exist two distinct solutions to the 4-queens puzzle:

[
  // Solution 1
  [".Q..",
   "...Q",
   "Q...",
   "..Q."
  ],
  // Solution 2
  ["..Q.",
   "Q...",
   "...Q",
   ".Q.."
  ]
]

题目思路：

这题就用dfs去解，用一个col set去记录被访问过的column，用diag set去记录被访问过的diag。如果这两种都没被访问过，那把Q放在相应的位置，并进行下一行的recursion。

Mycode（AC = 169ms）：

class Solution {
public:
    /**
     * Get all distinct N-Queen solutions
     * @param n: The number of queens
     * @return: All distinct solutions
     * For example, A string '...Q' shows a queen on forth position
     */
    vector<vector<string> > solveNQueens(int n) {
        // write your code here
        vector<vector<string>> ans;
        if (n == 0) return ans;
        
        vector<string> sofar;
        unordered_set<int> col, diag;
        solveNQueens(ans, sofar, n, col, diag);
        return ans;
    }
    
    void solveNQueens(vector<vector<string>>& ans,
                      vector<string>& sofar,
                      int n,
                      unordered_set<int>& col,
                      unordered_set<int>& diag)
    {
        if (sofar.size() == n) {
            ans.push_back(sofar);
            return;
        }
        
        string tmp = nDots(n);
        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
            // if there is no Q in same row, col, and diag,
            // then tmp could be a potential ans
            if (col.find(i) == col.end() &&
                !findDiag(diag, sofar.size(), i, n))
            {
                col.insert(i);
                diag.insert(sofar.size() * n + i);
                tmp[i] = 'Q';
                sofar.push_back(tmp);
                
                solveNQueens(ans, sofar, n, col, diag);
                
                sofar.pop_back();
                tmp[i] = '.';
                diag.erase(sofar.size() * n + i);
                col.erase(i);
            }
        }
    }
    
    // write n '.' in a line
    string nDots(int n) {
        string str = "";
        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
            str += ".";
        }
        return str;
    }
    
    // check whether there is Q in diag
    bool findDiag(unordered_set<int>& diag, int i, int j, int n) {
        for (auto it = diag.begin(); it != diag.end(); it++) {
            int row = *it / n;
            int col = *it % n;
            
            if (abs(row - i) == abs(col - j)) return true;
        }
        
        return false;
    }
};