package com.thealgorithms.stacks; import java.util.Arrays; import java.util.Stack; /** * Utility class to find the next smaller element for each element in a given integer array. * *

The next smaller element for an element x is the first smaller element on the left side of x in the array. * If no such element exists, the result will contain -1 for that position.

* *

Example:

*
 * Input:  {2, 7, 3, 5, 4, 6, 8}
 * Output: [-1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 6]
 * 
*/ public final class NextSmallerElement { private NextSmallerElement() { } /** * Finds the next smaller element for each element in the given array. * * @param array the input array of integers * @return an array where each element is replaced by the next smaller element on the left side in the input array, * or -1 if there is no smaller element. * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the input array is null */ public static int[] findNextSmallerElements(int[] array) { if (array == null) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("Input array cannot be null"); } int[] result = new int[array.length]; Stack stack = new Stack<>(); // Initialize all elements to -1 (in case there is no smaller element) Arrays.fill(result, -1); // Traverse the array from left to right for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) { // Maintain the stack such that the top of the stack is the next smaller element while (!stack.isEmpty() && stack.peek() >= array[i]) { stack.pop(); } // If stack is not empty, then the top is the next smaller element if (!stack.isEmpty()) { result[i] = stack.peek(); } // Push the current element onto the stack stack.push(array[i]); } return result; } }