128. Longest Consecutive Sequence

Description

Given an unsorted array of integers nums, return the length of the longest consecutive elements sequence.

You must write an algorithm that runs in O(n) time.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [100,4,200,1,3,2]
Output: 4
Explanation: The longest consecutive elements sequence is [1, 2, 3, 4]. Therefore its length is 4.

Example 2:

Input: nums = [0,3,7,2,5,8,4,6,0,1]
Output: 9

Constraints:

0 <= nums.length <= 10⁵
-10⁹ <= nums[i] <= 10⁹

Solutions

Solution 1: Hash Table

We can use a hash table $\textit{s}$ to store all the elements in the array, a variable $\textit{ans}$ to record the length of the longest consecutive sequence, and a hash table $\textit{d}$ to record the length of the consecutive sequence each element $x$ belongs to.

Next, we iterate through each element $x$ in the array, using a temporary variable $y$ to record the maximum value of the current consecutive sequence, initially $y = x$. Then, we continuously try to match $y+1, y+2, y+3, \dots$ until we can no longer match. During this process, we remove the matched elements from the hash table $\textit{s}$. The length of the consecutive sequence that the current element $x$ belongs to is $d[x] = d[y] + y - x$, and then we update the answer $\textit{ans} = \max(\textit{ans}, d[x])$.

After the iteration, we return the answer $\textit{ans}$.

The time complexity is $O(n)$, and the space complexity is $O(n)$. Here, $n$ is the length of the array $\textit{nums}$.

Python3JavaC++GoTypeScriptRustJavaScript

class Solution:
    def longestConsecutive(self, nums: List[int]) -> int:
        s = set(nums)
        ans = 0
        d = defaultdict(int)
        for x in nums:
            y = x
            while y in s:
                s.remove(y)
                y += 1
            d[x] = d[y] + y - x
            ans = max(ans, d[x])
        return ans

class Solution {
    public int longestConsecutive(int[] nums) {
        Set<Integer> s = new HashSet<>();
        for (int x : nums) {
            s.add(x);
        }
        int ans = 0;
        Map<Integer, Integer> d = new HashMap<>();
        for (int x : nums) {
            int y = x;
            while (s.contains(y)) {
                s.remove(y++);
            }
            d.put(x, d.getOrDefault(y, 0) + y - x);
            ans = Math.max(ans, d.get(x));
        }
        return ans;
    }
}

class Solution {
public:
    int longestConsecutive(vector<int>& nums) {
        unordered_set<int> s(nums.begin(), nums.end());
        int ans = 0;
        unordered_map<int, int> d;
        for (int x : nums) {
            int y = x;
            while (s.contains(y)) {
                s.erase(y++);
            }
            d[x] = (d.contains(y) ? d[y] : 0) + y - x;
            ans = max(ans, d[x]);
        }
        return ans;
    }
};

func longestConsecutive(nums []int) (ans int) {
    s := map[int]bool{}
    for _, x := range nums {
        s[x] = true
    }
    d := map[int]int{}
    for _, x := range nums {
        y := x
        for s[y] {
            delete(s, y)
            y++
        }
        d[x] = d[y] + y - x
        ans = max(ans, d[x])
    }
    return
}

function longestConsecutive(nums: number[]): number {
    const s = new Set(nums);
    let ans = 0;
    const d = new Map<number, number>();
    for (const x of nums) {
        let y = x;
        while (s.has(y)) {
            s.delete(y++);
        }
        d.set(x, (d.get(y) || 0) + (y - x));
        ans = Math.max(ans, d.get(x)!);
    }
    return ans;
}

use std::collections::{HashMap, HashSet};

impl Solution {
    pub fn longest_consecutive(nums: Vec<i32>) -> i32 {
        let mut s: HashSet<i32> = nums.iter().cloned().collect();
        let mut ans = 0;
        let mut d: HashMap<i32, i32> = HashMap::new();
        for &x in &nums {
            let mut y = x;
            while s.contains(&y) {
                s.remove(&y);
                y += 1;
            }
            let length = d.get(&(y)).unwrap_or(&0) + y - x;
            d.insert(x, length);
            ans = ans.max(length);
        }
        ans
    }
}

/**
 * @param {number[]} nums
 * @return {number}
 */
var longestConsecutive = function (nums) {
    const s = new Set(nums);
    let ans = 0;
    const d = new Map();
    for (const x of nums) {
        let y = x;
        while (s.has(y)) {
            s.delete(y++);
        }
        d.set(x, (d.get(y) || 0) + (y - x));
        ans = Math.max(ans, d.get(x));
    }
    return ans;
};

Solution 2: Hash Table (Optimization)

Similar to Solution 1, we use a hash table $\textit{s}$ to store all the elements in the array and a variable $\textit{ans}$ to record the length of the longest consecutive sequence. However, we no longer use a hash table $\textit{d}$ to record the length of the consecutive sequence each element $x$ belongs to. During the iteration, we skip elements where $x-1$ is also in the hash table $\textit{s}$. If $x-1$ is in the hash table $\textit{s}$, then $x$ is definitely not the start of a consecutive sequence, so we can directly skip $x$.