LeetCode34. Find First and Last Position of Element in Sorted Array（C++/Python）

Given an array of integers nums sorted in ascending order, find the starting and ending position of a given target value.

Your algorithm's runtime complexity must be in the order of O(log n).

If the target is not found in the array, return [-1, -1].

Example 1:

Input: nums = [5,7,7,8,8,10], target = 8
Output: [3,4]

Example 2:

Input: nums = [5,7,7,8,8,10], target = 6
Output: [-1,-1]

解题思路：用两次二分法，第一次查找target的首次出现位置，第二次查找target的最后出现位置。二分法思路简单，细节是魔鬼。首先明确一下，终止条件为left<right时，每次查找的mid数的范围是[left, right)

左侧边界：

当nums[mid] == target：左侧边界可能在mid的左边，或者就是mid本身，继续在mid左边查找，令right = mid

当nums[mid] < target：与正常的二分法一致，令left=mid+1

当nums[mid] > target：要搜索mid的左半部分，由于搜索范围为[left, right)，令right = mid，而非right = mid-1

右侧边界：

最终得到的left结果是右侧边界的右边第一个序号。与左侧相比，仅仅需要改动nums[mid] == target的情况。

当nums[mid] == target：右侧边界可能在mid的右边，或者就是mid本身，即我们要找的“右侧边界的右边第一个”一定在mid的右边。继续在mid右边查找，令left= mid+1。

C++

class Solution {
public:
    vector<int> searchRange(vector<int>& nums, int target) {
        vector<int> ans(2, -1);
        if(nums.size() == 0)
            return ans;
        int left = 0, right = nums.size()-1;
        while(left < right){
            int mid = (left + right) >> 1;
            if(nums[mid] == target)
                right = mid;
            else if(nums[mid] < target)
                left = mid+1;
            else
                right = mid;
        }
        ans[0] = (left == nums.size() || nums[left] != target) ? -1 : left;
        left = 0, right = nums.size();
        while(left < right){
            int mid = (left + right) >> 1;
            if(nums[mid] == target)
                left = mid+1;
            else if(nums[mid] < target)
                left = mid+1;
            else
                right = mid;
        }
        ans[1] = (left == 0 || nums[left-1] != target) ? -1 : left-1;
        return ans;
    }
};

Python

class Solution(object):
    def searchRange(self, nums, target):
        """
        :type nums: List[int]
        :type target: int
        :rtype: List[int]
        """
        ans = [-1, -1]
        if len(nums) == 0:
            return ans
        left, right = 0, len(nums)-1
        while left < right:
            mid = (left + right) >> 1
            if nums[mid] == target:
                right = mid
            elif nums[mid] < target:
                left = mid+1
            else:
                right = mid
        ans[0] = -1 if left == len(nums) or nums[left] != target else left
        left, right = 0, len(nums)
        while left < right:
            mid = (left + right) >> 1
            if nums[mid] == target:
                left = mid+1
            elif nums[mid] < target:
                left = mid+1
            else:
                right = mid
        ans[1] = -1 if left == 0 or nums[left-1] != target else left-1
        return ans