LeetCode – Implement strStr() (Java)

Problem:

Implement strStr().

Returns a pointer to the first occurrence of needle in haystack, or null if needle is not part of haystack.

Thoughts

First, need to understand the problem correctly, the pointer simply means a sub string.
Second, make sure the loop does not exceed the boundaries of two strings.

Java Solution

public String strStr(String haystack, String needle) {
 
	int needleLen = needle.length();
	int haystackLen = haystack.length();
 
	if (needleLen == haystackLen && needleLen == 0)
		return "";
 
	if (needleLen == 0)
		return haystack;
 
	for (int i = 0; i < haystackLen; i++) {
		// make sure in boundary of needle
		if (haystackLen - i + 1 < needleLen)
			return null;
 
		int k = i;
		int j = 0;
 
		while (j < needleLen && k < haystackLen && needle.charAt(j) == haystack.charAt(k)) {
			j++;
			k++;
			if (j == needleLen)
				return haystack.substring(i);
		}
 
	}
 
	return null;
}