LeetCode #36 Valid Sudoku

Medium

Problem

Determine if a 9x9 Sudoku board is valid. Only the filled cells need to be validated according to the following rules:

1. Each row must contain the digits 1-9 without repetition.
2. Each column must contain the digits 1-9 without repetition.
3. Each of the 9 3x3 sub-boxes of the grid must contain the digits 1-9 without repetition.

A partially filled sudoku which is valid.

The Sudoku board could be partially filled, where empty cells are filled with the character '.'.

Example 1:

Input:
[
  ["5","3",".",".","7",".",".",".","."],
  ["6",".",".","1","9","5",".",".","."],
  [".","9","8",".",".",".",".","6","."],
  ["8",".",".",".","6",".",".",".","3"],
  ["4",".",".","8",".","3",".",".","1"],
  ["7",".",".",".","2",".",".",".","6"],
  [".","6",".",".",".",".","2","8","."],
  [".",".",".","4","1","9",".",".","5"],
  [".",".",".",".","8",".",".","7","9"]
]
Output: true

Example 2:

Input:
[
  ["8","3",".",".","7",".",".",".","."],
  ["6",".",".","1","9","5",".",".","."],
  [".","9","8",".",".",".",".","6","."],
  ["8",".",".",".","6",".",".",".","3"],
  ["4",".",".","8",".","3",".",".","1"],
  ["7",".",".",".","2",".",".",".","6"],
  [".","6",".",".",".",".","2","8","."],
  [".",".",".","4","1","9",".",".","5"],
  [".",".",".",".","8",".",".","7","9"]
]
Output: false
Explanation: Same as Example 1, except with the 5 in the top left corner being modified to 8. Since there are two 8's in the top left 3x3 sub-box, it is invalid.

Note:

• A Sudoku board (partially filled) could be valid but is not necessarily solvable.
• Only the filled cells need to be validated according to the mentioned rules.
• The given board contain only digits 1-9 and the character '.'.
• The given board size is always 9x9.

Solution

Validate all rows, columns and grids to check if it’s valid with a hash set.

Complexity

It scan each row, column and gird of the matrix so it takes O(n² + n² + n²) = O(n²) time, where n denotes to the dimension of this matrix’s row and height. Or you can say it only takes O(9²) = O(1) time because we already know it will always be a 9 * 9 matrix.

For space complexity, the hash set needs O(n) extra space. The same, you can say O(1) as well because n is fixed to 9.