The string"PAYPALISHIRING"is written in a zigzag pattern on a given number of rows like this: (you may want to display this pattern in a fixed font for better legibility)

P   A   H   N
A P L S I I G
Y   I   R

And then read line by line: "PAHNAPLSIIGYIR"

Write the code that will take a string and make this conversion given a number of rows:

string convert(string text, int nRows);

convert("PAYPALISHIRING", 3)should return"PAHNAPLSIIGYIR"

Solution:

/*n=numRows

Δ=2n-2    1                           2n-1                         4n-3
Δ=        2                     2n-2  2n                    4n-4   4n-2
Δ=        3               2n-3        2n+1              4n-5       .
Δ=        .           .               .               .            .
Δ=        .       n+2                 .           3n               .
Δ=        n-1 n+1                     3n-3    3n-1                 5n-5
Δ=2n-2    n                           3n-2                         5n-4
*/

Be careful with nR=1 && nR=2

create n rows of StringBuilder

public String convert(String s, int nRows) {
    char[] c = s.toCharArray();
    int len = c.length;
    StringBuffer[] sb = new StringBuffer[nRows];
    for (int i = 0; i < sb.length; i++) sb[i] = new StringBuffer();

    int i = 0;
    while (i < len) {
        for (int idx = 0; idx < nRows && i < len; idx++) // vertically down
            sb[idx].append(c[i++]);
        for (int idx = nRows-2; idx >= 1 && i < len; idx--) // obliquely up
            sb[idx].append(c[i++]);
    }
    for (int idx = 1; idx < sb.length; idx++)
        sb[0].append(sb[idx]);
    return sb[0].toString();
}

.