Step-By-Step Directions From a Binary Tree Node to Another

You are given the root of a binary tree with n nodes. Each node is uniquely assigned a value from 1 to n. You are also given an integer startValue representing the value of the start node s, and a different integer destValue representing the value of the destination node t.

Find the shortest path starting from node s and ending at node t. Generate step-by-step directions of such path as a string consisting of only the uppercase letters 'L', 'R', and 'U'. Each letter indicates a specific direction:

• 'L' means to go from a node to its left child node.
• 'R' means to go from a node to its right child node.
• 'U' means to go from a node to its parent node.

Return the step-by-step directions of the shortest path from node s to node t.

Example 1:

Input: root = [5,1,2,3,null,6,4], startValue = 3, destValue = 6
Output: "UURL"
Explanation: The shortest path is: 3 → 1 → 5 → 2 → 6.

Example 2:

Input: root = [2,1], startValue = 2, destValue = 1
Output: "L"
Explanation: The shortest path is: 2 → 1.

Constraints:

• The number of nodes in the tree is n.
• 2 <= n <= 105
• 1 <= Node.val <= n
• All the values in the tree are unique.
• 1 <= startValue, destValue <= n
• startValue != destValue

思路1：找到LCA，然后从LCA走，左边都是往上U，但是右边有path，怎么找就是backtracking，用deque去收集path，然后找到了就return true，不backtracking了，保留path返回。

/**
 * Definition for a binary tree node.
 * public class TreeNode {
 *     int val;
 *     TreeNode left;
 *     TreeNode right;
 *     TreeNode() {}
 *     TreeNode(int val) { this.val = val; }
 *     TreeNode(int val, TreeNode left, TreeNode right) {
 *         this.val = val;
 *         this.left = left;
 *         this.right = right;
 *     }
 * }
 */
class Solution {
    public String getDirections(TreeNode root, int startValue, int destValue) {
        TreeNode LCA = findLCA(root, startValue, destValue);
        ArrayDeque<String> sdeque = new ArrayDeque<>();
        findPath(LCA, startValue, sdeque);
        
        ArrayDeque<String> ddeque = new ArrayDeque<>();
        findPath(LCA, destValue, ddeque);
        
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        while(!sdeque.isEmpty()) {
            sdeque.poll();
            sb.append("U");
        }
        
        while(!ddeque.isEmpty()) {
            sb.append(ddeque.poll());
        }
        return sb.toString();
    }
    
    private TreeNode findLCA(TreeNode root, int startValue, int destValue) {
        if(root == null || root.val == startValue || root.val == destValue) {
            return root;
        }
        TreeNode leftnode = findLCA(root.left, startValue, destValue);
        TreeNode rightnode = findLCA(root.right, startValue, destValue);
        if(leftnode == null) {
            return rightnode;
        } else if(rightnode == null) {
            return leftnode;
        } else {
            return root;
        }
    }
    
    private boolean findPath(TreeNode root, int target, ArrayDeque<String> deque) {
        if(root == null) {
            return false;
        }
        if(root.val == target) {
            return true;
        }
        
        deque.offer("L");
        if(findPath(root.left, target, deque)) {
            return true;
        }
        deque.removeLast();
        
        deque.offer("R");
        if(findPath(root.right, target, deque)) {
            return true;
        }
        deque.removeLast();
        
        return false;
    }
    
}

 思路2：把tree换成图的问题解决，build graph，保留neighbor之间的关系，然后用dfs去找，因为是unique的，肯定找到就是最短path。

/**
 * Definition for a binary tree node.
 * public class TreeNode {
 *     int val;
 *     TreeNode left;
 *     TreeNode right;
 *     TreeNode() {}
 *     TreeNode(int val) { this.val = val; }
 *     TreeNode(int val, TreeNode left, TreeNode right) {
 *         this.val = val;
 *         this.left = left;
 *         this.right = right;
 *     }
 * }
 */
class Solution {
    private String finalPath = null;
    public String getDirections(TreeNode root, int startValue, int destValue) {
        HashMap<Integer, HashMap<Integer, String>> graph = new HashMap<>();
        buildGraph(root, graph);
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        HashSet<Integer> visited = new HashSet<>();
        dfs(graph, sb, startValue, destValue, visited);
        return finalPath;
    }
    
    private void dfs(HashMap<Integer, HashMap<Integer, String>> graph,
                    StringBuilder sb,
                    int startValue, 
                    int destValue,
                    HashSet<Integer> visited) {
        if(startValue == destValue) {
            finalPath = sb.toString();
            return;
        }
        HashMap<Integer, String> neighbors = graph.get(startValue);
        visited.add(startValue);
        for(Integer neighbor: neighbors.keySet()) {
            if(visited.contains(neighbor)) {
                continue;
            }
            sb.append(neighbors.get(neighbor));
            visited.add(neighbor);
            dfs(graph, sb, neighbor, destValue, visited);
            visited.remove(neighbor);
            sb.deleteCharAt(sb.length() - 1);
        }
    }
    
    private void buildGraph(TreeNode root, HashMap<Integer, HashMap<Integer, String>> graph) {
        if(root == null) {
            return;
        }
        TreeNode leftNode = root.left;
        TreeNode rightNode = root.right;
        
        if(leftNode != null) {
            graph.putIfAbsent(root.val, new HashMap<Integer, String>());
            graph.get(root.val).put(leftNode.val, "L");
            
            graph.putIfAbsent(leftNode.val, new HashMap<Integer, String>());
            graph.get(leftNode.val).put(root.val, "U");
        }
        
        if(rightNode != null) {
            graph.putIfAbsent(root.val, new HashMap<Integer, String>());
            graph.get(root.val).put(rightNode.val, "R");
            
            graph.putIfAbsent(rightNode.val, new HashMap<Integer, String>());
            graph.get(rightNode.val).put(root.val, "U");
        }
        
        buildGraph(root.left, graph);
        buildGraph(root.right, graph);
    }
}