[Leetcode] 658. Find K Closest Elements 解题报告

题目：

Given a sorted array, two integers k and x, find the k closest elements to x in the array. The result should also be sorted in ascending order. If there is a tie, the smaller elements are always preferred.

Example 1:

Input: [1,2,3,4,5], k=4, x=3
Output: [1,2,3,4]

Example 2:

Input: [1,2,3,4,5], k=4, x=-1
Output: [1,2,3,4]

Note:

1. The value k is positive and will always be smaller than the length of the sorted array.
2. Length of the given array is positive and will not exceed 104
3. Absolute value of elements in the array and x will not exceed 104

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UPDATE (2017/9/19):
The arr parameter had been changed to an array of integers (instead of a list of integers). Please reload the code definition to get the latest changes.

思路：

我们定义两个指针left和right，其中left初始化为小于x的第一个数，right初始化为大于等于x的第一个数，然后分别比较left和right与x的差值，如果left与x的差值小，则将left加入结果集中，并将left左移；否则将right加入结果集中，并将right右移。这样迭代直到结果集的大小达到k。当然我们还需要随时判断left和right是否已经到达数组的边界（我们在实现中，用arr.end()作为哨兵，判断left和right是否到达边界）。为了防止排序，我们定义ret1和ret2，其中ret1中存放比x小的所有数，而ret2中存放比x大的所有数，这样最后将ret1逆序，并且和ret2相连接就可以了。算法的时间复杂度可以控制在O(logn + k)之内。

代码：

class Solution {
public:
    vector<int> findClosestElements(vector<int>& arr, int k, int x) {
        vector<int> ret1, ret2;
        vector<int>::iterator left, right;
        right = lower_bound(arr.begin(), arr.end(), x);
        left = right;
        if (left == arr.begin()) {
            left = arr.end();
        }
        else {
            --left;
        }
        while (ret1.size() + ret2.size() < k) {
            int diff1 = left == arr.end() ? INT_MAX : x - *left;
            int diff2 = right == arr.end() ? INT_MAX : *right - x;
            if (diff1 <= diff2) {
                ret1.push_back(*left);
                if (left == arr.begin()) {
                    left = arr.end();
                }
                else {
                    --left;
                }
            }
            else {
                ret2.push_back(*right);
                if (right != arr.end()) {
                    ++right;
                }
            }
        }
        reverse(ret1.begin(), ret1.end());
        ret1.insert(ret1.end(), ret2.begin(), ret2.end()); 
        return ret1;
    }
};