Among all leetcode questions, I find that there are at least 5 substring search problem which could be solved by the sliding window algorithm.
template:
public class Solution { public List<Integer> slidingWindowTemplateByHarryChaoyangHe(String s, String t) { //init a collection or int value to save the result according the question. List<Integer> result = new LinkedList<>(); if(t.length()> s.length()) return result; //create a hashmap to save the Characters of the target substring. //(K, V) = (Character, Frequence of the Characters) Map<Character, Integer> map = new HashMap<>(); for(char c : t.toCharArray()){ map.put(c, map.getOrDefault(c, 0) + 1); } //maintain a counter to check whether match the target string. int counter = map.size();//must be the map size, NOT the string size because the char may be duplicate. //Two Pointers: begin - left pointer of the window; end - right pointer of the window int begin = 0, end = 0; //the length of the substring which match the target string. int len = Integer.MAX_VALUE; //loop at the begining of the source string while(end < s.length()){ char c = s.charAt(end);//get a character if( map.containsKey(c) ){ map.put(c, map.get(c)-1);// plus or minus one if(map.get(c) == 0) counter--;//modify the counter according the requirement(different condition). } end++; //increase begin pointer to make it invalid/valid again while(counter == 0 /* counter condition. different question may have different condition */){ char tempc = s.charAt(begin);//***be careful here: choose the char at begin pointer, NOT the end pointer if(map.containsKey(tempc)){ map.put(tempc, map.get(tempc) + 1);//plus or minus one if(map.get(tempc) > 0) counter++;//modify the counter according the requirement(different condition). } /* save / update(min/max) the result if find a target*/ // result collections or result int value begin++; } } return result; } }
2) the similar questions are:
https://leetcode.com/problems/minimum-window-substring/
https://leetcode.com/problems/longest-substring-without-repeating-characters/
https://leetcode.com/problems/substring-with-concatenation-of-all-words/
https://leetcode.com/problems/longest-substring-with-at-most-two-distinct-characters/
https://leetcode.com/problems/find-all-anagrams-in-a-string/
3) I will give my solution for these questions use the above template one by one
Minimum-window-substring
https://leetcode.com/problems/minimum-window-substring/
public class Solution { public String minWindow(String s, String t) { if(t.length()> s.length()) return ""; Map<Character, Integer> map = new HashMap<>(); for(char c : t.toCharArray()){ map.put(c, map.getOrDefault(c,0) + 1); } int counter = map.size(); int begin = 0, end = 0; int head = 0; int len = Integer.MAX_VALUE; while(end < s.length()){ char c = s.charAt(end); if( map.containsKey(c) ){ map.put(c, map.get(c)-1); if(map.get(c) == 0) counter--; } end++; while(counter == 0){ char tempc = s.charAt(begin); if(map.containsKey(tempc)){ map.put(tempc, map.get(tempc) + 1); if(map.get(tempc) > 0){ counter++; } } if(end-begin < len){ len = end - begin; head = begin; } begin++; } } if(len == Integer.MAX_VALUE) return ""; return s.substring(head, head+len); } }
longest substring without repeating characters
https://leetcode.com/problems/longest-substring-without-repeating-characters/
public class Solution { public int lengthOfLongestSubstring(String s) { Map<Character, Integer> map = new HashMap<>(); int begin = 0, end = 0, counter = 0, d = 0; while (end < s.length()) { // > 0 means repeating character //if(map[s.charAt(end++)]-- > 0) counter++; char c = s.charAt(end); map.put(c, map.getOrDefault(c, 0) + 1); if(map.get(c) > 1) counter++; end++; while (counter > 0) { //if (map[s.charAt(begin++)]-- > 1) counter--; char charTemp = s.charAt(begin); if (map.get(charTemp) > 1) counter--; map.put(charTemp, map.get(charTemp)-1); begin++; } d = Math.max(d, end - begin); } return d; } }
Longest Substring with At Most Two Distinct Characters
https://leetcode.com/problems/longest-substring-with-at-most-two-distinct-characters/
public class Solution { public int lengthOfLongestSubstringTwoDistinct(String s) { Map<Character,Integer> map = new HashMap<>(); int start = 0, end = 0, counter = 0, len = 0; while(end < s.length()){ char c = s.charAt(end); map.put(c, map.getOrDefault(c, 0) + 1); if(map.get(c) == 1) counter++;//new char end++; while(counter > 2){ char cTemp = s.charAt(start); map.put(cTemp, map.get(cTemp) - 1); if(map.get(cTemp) == 0){ counter--; } start++; } len = Math.max(len, end-start); } return len; } }
Substring with Concatenation of All Words
https://leetcode.com/problems/substring-with-concatenation-of-all-words/
public class Solution { public List<Integer> findSubstring(String S, String[] L) { List<Integer> res = new LinkedList<>(); if (L.length == 0 || S.length() < L.length * L[0].length()) return res; int N = S.length(); int M = L.length; // *** length int wl = L[0].length(); Map<String, Integer> map = new HashMap<>(), curMap = new HashMap<>(); for (String s : L) { if (map.containsKey(s)) map.put(s, map.get(s) + 1); else map.put(s, 1); } String str = null, tmp = null; for (int i = 0; i < wl; i++) { int count = 0; // remark: reset count int start = i; for (int r = i; r + wl <= N; r += wl) { str = S.substring(r, r + wl); if (map.containsKey(str)) { if (curMap.containsKey(str)) curMap.put(str, curMap.get(str) + 1); else curMap.put(str, 1); if (curMap.get(str) <= map.get(str)) count++; while (curMap.get(str) > map.get(str)) { tmp = S.substring(start, start + wl); curMap.put(tmp, curMap.get(tmp) - 1); start += wl; //the same as https://leetcode.com/problems/longest-substring-without-repeating-characters/ if (curMap.get(tmp) < map.get(tmp)) count--; } if (count == M) { res.add(start); tmp = S.substring(start, start + wl); curMap.put(tmp, curMap.get(tmp) - 1); start += wl; count--; } }else { curMap.clear(); count = 0; start = r + wl;//not contain, so move the start } } curMap.clear(); } return res; } }
Find All Anagrams in a String
https://leetcode.com/problems/find-all-anagrams-in-a-string/
public class Solution { public List<Integer> findAnagrams(String s, String t) { List<Integer> result = new LinkedList<>(); if(t.length()> s.length()) return result; Map<Character, Integer> map = new HashMap<>(); for(char c : t.toCharArray()){ map.put(c, map.getOrDefault(c, 0) + 1); } int counter = map.size(); int begin = 0, end = 0; int head = 0; int len = Integer.MAX_VALUE; while(end < s.length()){ char c = s.charAt(end); if( map.containsKey(c) ){ map.put(c, map.get(c)-1); if(map.get(c) == 0) counter--; } end++; while(counter == 0){ char tempc = s.charAt(begin); if(map.containsKey(tempc)){ map.put(tempc, map.get(tempc) + 1); if(map.get(tempc) > 0){ counter++; } } if(end-begin == t.length()){ result.add(begin); } begin++; } } return result; } }
图示Find All Anagrams in a String
reference:
https://discuss.leetcode.com/topic/68976/sliding-window-algorithm-template-to-solve-all-the-leetcode-substring-search-problem/2
more details:
https://medium.com/leetcode-patterns/leetcode-pattern-2-sliding-windows-for-strings-e19af105316b