PU Read N Characters Given Read4

Jan 01, 1970

The API: int read4(char *buf) reads 4 characters at a time from a file.

The return value is the actual number of characters read. For example, it returns 3 if there is only 3 characters left in the file.

By using the read4 API, implement the function int read(char *buf, int n) that reads n characters from the file.

Note:

  • The read function will only be called once for each test case.

Python Solution:

# The read4 API is already defined for you.
# @param buf, a list of characters
# @return an integer
# def read4(buf):

class Solution(object):
    def read(self, buf, n):
        """
        :type buf: Destination buffer (List[str])
        :type n: Maximum number of characters to read (int)
        :rtype: The number of characters read (int)
        """
        _buf = [""] * 4
        res = 0
        while n:
            _n = read4(_buf)
            if not _n: break
            _len = min(_n, n)
            for i in range(_len):
                buf[res] = _buf[i]
                res += 1
            n -= _n
        return res

C++ Solution:

// Forward declaration of the read4 API.
int read4(char *buf);

class Solution {
public:
    /**
     * @param buf Destination buffer
     * @param n   Maximum number of characters to read
     * @return    The number of characters read
     */
    int read(char *buf, int n) {
        char _buf[4];
        int res = 0;
        while (n) {
            int _n = read4(_buf);
            if (!_n) break;
            _n = _n < n ? _n : n;
            int i;
            for (i = 0; i < _n; i++) buf[res++] = _buf[i];
            n -= _n;
        }
        return res;
    }
};

Summary:

  • This problem really should not be solved with Python.

LeetCode: 157. Read N Characters Given Read4