[LeetCode] 3Sum Solution

Given an array S of n integers, are there elements a, b, c in S such that a + b + c = 0? 

Find all unique triplets in the array which gives the sum of zero.

Notes

Elements in a triplet (a, b, c) must be in non-descending order.(ie, a<= b <= c)

The solution set must not contain duplicate triplets.

For example, given array S = {-1, 0, 1, 2, -1, -4},

A solution set is {-1, 0, 1} (-1, -1, 2)

Idea:

1. 3 loops to find all cases.

2. use one loop, then, use two pointer to get the 

public class Solution {
    public ArrayList<ArrayList<Integer>> threeSum(int[] num) {
        
        ArrayList<ArrayList<Integer>> result = new ArrayList<ArrayList<Integer>>();
        if(num == null || num.length < 3) return result;
        
        int length = num.length;
        
        //sort the num array, then use front and tail pointer to get the 
        Arrays.sort(num);
        for(int i = 0; i < length - 2; i++)
        {
            if(num[i] > 0) break;
            
            if(i == 0 || num[i] > num[ i - 1])
            {
                int a = -num[i];
                
                int front = i + 1;
                int tail = length - 1;
                
                while(front < tail)
                {
                    int b = num[front] + num[tail];
                    if(b == a)
                    {
                        ArrayList<Integer> arr = new ArrayList<Integer>();
                        arr.add(num[i]);
                        arr.add(num[front]);
                        arr.add(num[tail]);
                        
                        result.add(arr);
                        //arr.clear();
                        
                        front++;
                        tail--;
                        
                        while(front < tail && num[tail] == num[tail + 1])
                        {
                            tail--;
                        }
                        
                        while(front < tail && num[front] == num[front - 1])  //
                        {
                            front++;
                        }
                    } else if(b < a){
                        front++;
                    }else {
                        tail--;
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        
        return result;
    }
}