10.5 Sparse Search

The basic idea is binary search. But we have to modify it a little bit: when str[mid] is “”, we have to find a non empty string near to original one as the new str[mid]!

    int search(vector<string>& str, string s, int lo, size_t hi){
        if(lo>hi) return -1;
        int mid = lo + (hi-lo)/2;
        if (str[mid].empty()) {
            int left = mid - 1;
            int right = mid + 1;
            while (true) {
                if(left<lo && right > hi) return -1;
                else if(right <= hi && !str[right].empty()){
                    mid = right;
                    break;
                }else if(left>=lo && !str[left].empty()){
                    mid = left;
                    break;
                }
                ++right;
                --left;
            }
        }
        if(s == str[mid]) return mid;
        else if(str[mid] < s) return search(str, s, mid + 1, hi);
        else return search(str, s, lo, mid - 1);
    }
    int searchStr(vector<string> str, string s){
        if(str.empty() || s.empty()) return -1;
        return search(str, s, 0, str.size() - 1);
    }