59. Spiral Matrix II（待进一步研究）

Given an integer n, generate a square matrix filled with elements from 1 to n2 in spiral order.

For example,
Given n = 3,

You should return the following matrix:
[
[ 1, 2, 3 ],
[ 8, 9, 4 ],
[ 7, 6, 5 ]
]

四步走：

vector<vector<int>> generateMatrix(int n) {
        vector<vector<int>> result(n,vector<int>(n));
        int k = 1;
        int i = 0;
        while(k <= n * n){
            //四个步骤
            int j = i;
            while(j < n - i){ //水平赋值，从左到右
                result[i][j++] = k++;
            }

            j = i + 1;
            while(j < n - i){//垂直赋值，从上到下
                result[j++][n - i - 1] = k++;
            }

            j = n - i - 2;
            while(j > i){//水平赋值，从右到左
                result[n - i - 1][j--] = k++;
            }

            j = n - i -1;
            while(j > i){//垂直赋值，从下到上
                result[j--][i] = k++;
            }

            i++;
        }

        return result;
    }

也可以采用定义的4个变量来写,这样更清晰些（注意：此题中注释掉的两个if语句可加可不加，加上更严谨些，但注意对于n*n的矩阵可不加if,但对于m*n的矩阵则需要加上if）：

vector<vector<int>> generateMatrix(int n) {
        vector<vector<int>> result(n,vector<int>(n));
        int rowStart = 0;
        int rowEnd = n - 1;
        int colStart = 0;
        int colEnd = n -1;
        int k = 1;

        while(rowStart <= rowEnd && colStart <= colEnd){
            //四步走
            //第一步：水平赋值，从左到右
            for(int i = colStart; i <= colEnd; i++)
            {
                result[rowStart][i] = k++;
            }
            rowStart++;

            //第二步，垂直赋值，从上到下
            for(int i = rowStart; i <= rowEnd; i++)
            {
                result[i][colEnd] = k++;
            }
            colEnd--;

            //第三步，水平赋值，从右到左
            for(int i = colEnd; i >= colStart; i--)
            {
                //if (rowStart <= rowEnd)
                result[rowEnd][i] = k++;
            }
            rowEnd--;

            //第四步,垂直赋值，从下到上
            for(int i = rowEnd; i >= rowStart; i--)
            {
                //if (colStart <= colEnd)
                result[i][colStart] = k++;
            }
            colStart++;

        }
        return result;
    }

更好的算法：

vector<vector<int> > generateMatrix(int n) {
            int dir = 0;
            vector< vector<int> > matrix(n, vector<int> (n, 0));
            int i = 0, j = 0, k = 1;
            while (k <= n * n) {
                matrix[i][j] = k++;
                if (dir == 0){
                    j++;
                    if (j == n || matrix[i][j] != 0) dir = 1, j--, i++;
                } else
                if (dir == 1) {
                    i++;
                    if (i == n || matrix[i][j] != 0) dir = 2, i--, j--;
                } else
                if (dir == 2) {
                    j--;
                    if (j < 0 || matrix[i][j] != 0) dir = 3, j++, i--;
                } else
                if (dir == 3) {
                    i--;
                    if (i < 0 || matrix[i][j] != 0) dir = 0, i++, j++;
                }
            }
            return matrix;
        }