[Leetcode] 436. Find Right Interval 解题报告

题目：

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：

我的基本思路是：首先对intervals的各个起点和终点进行排序，然后维护一个end点所对应的索引的集合，并且从左到右遍历：如果遇到一个end点，则将该点加入集合中；否则说明遇到了start点，我们就将当前集合中的所有indices所对应的right interval的索引都置为当前start点在原来序列中所对应的index（有点绕，请仔细理解）。

思路不难，关键在于数据结构的设计和实现，请见下面的代码片段。当然算法的时间复杂度为O(nlogn)，这是由于排序所致。空间复杂度仍然为O(1)。

代码：

/**
 * Definition for an interval.
 * struct Interval {
 *     int start;
 *     int end;
 *     Interval() : start(0), end(0) {}
 *     Interval(int s, int e) : start(s), end(e) {}
 * };
 */
class Solution {
public:
    vector<int> findRightInterval(vector<Interval>& intervals) {
        vector<ReverseIndex> ri;
        for (int i = 0; i < intervals.size(); ++i) {
            ri.push_back(ReverseIndex(intervals[i].start, i, true));
            ri.push_back(ReverseIndex(intervals[i].end, i, false));
        }
        sort(ri.begin(), ri.end(), RIComp);
        vector<int> ret(intervals.size(), -1);
        vector<int> indices;				// store the end indices
        for (int i = 0; i < ri.size(); ++i) {
            if (ri[i].start == true) {
                for (auto index : indices) {
                    ret[index] = ri[i].index;
                }
                indices.clear();
            }
            else {
                indices.push_back(ri[i].index);
            }
        }
        return ret;
    }
private:
    struct ReverseIndex {
        int value;
        int index;
        bool start;
        ReverseIndex(int v, int i, bool s) {
            value = v, index = i, start = s;
        }
    };
    struct ReverseIndexCompare {
        bool operator() (const ReverseIndex &a, const ReverseIndex &b) const {
            if (a.value < b.value) {
                return true;
            }
            else if (a.value > b.value) {
                return false;
            }
            else {          // end point should come first
                return a.start < b.start;
            }
        }
    } RIComp;
};