565. Array Nesting

A zero-indexed array A of length N contains all integers from 0 to N-1. Find and return the longest length of set S, where S[i] = {A[i], A[A[i]], A[A[A[i]]], ... } subjected to the rule below.

Suppose the first element in S starts with the selection of element A[i] of index = i, the next element in S should be A[A[i]], and then A[A[A[i]]]… By that analogy, we stop adding right before a duplicate element occurs in S.

 

Example 1:

Input: A = [5,4,0,3,1,6,2]
Output: 4
Explanation: 
A[0] = 5, A[1] = 4, A[2] = 0, A[3] = 3, A[4] = 1, A[5] = 6, A[6] = 2.

One of the longest S[K]:
S[0] = {A[0], A[5], A[6], A[2]} = {5, 6, 2, 0}
 

Note:

N is an integer within the range [1, 20,000].
The elements of A are all distinct.
Each element of A is an integer within the range [0, N-1].

读完题目，首先得明白一个点，无论如何，题目必定存在一个循环，然后我们为了防止重复寻找，使用“做标记”的方法标记找过的节点。

public int arrayNesting(int[] nums) {
        int ans = 0;
        for(int i = 0; i < nums.length; ++i) {
            if(nums[i] != -1) {
                int start = nums[i], count = 0;
                while(nums[start] != -1) {
                    int temp = start;
                    start = nums[start];
                    ++count;
                    nums[temp] = -1;
                }
                ans = Math.max(ans, count);
            }
        }
        return ans;
    }