Example: Spiral Matrix Traversal in C++

// Spiral Matrix Traversal
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>

int main() {
    // Step 1: Initialize the matrix
    std::vector<std::vector<int>> matrix = {
        {1, 2, 3, 4},
        {5, 6, 7, 8},
        {9, 10, 11, 12}
    };

    int rows = matrix.size();
    if (rows == 0) {
        std::cout << "Matrix is empty." << std::endl;
        return 0;
    }
    int cols = matrix[0].size();
    if (cols == 0) {
        std::cout << "Matrix is empty." << std::endl;
        return 0;
    }

    // Initialize boundary pointers
    int top = 0;
    int bottom = rows - 1;
    int left = 0;
    int right = cols - 1;

    // Vector to store the spiral order elements
    std::vector<int> result;

    // Loop until all elements are processed
    while (top <= bottom && left <= right) {
        // Step 2: Traverse right along the top row
        for (int i = left; i <= right; ++i) {
            result.push_back(matrix[top][i]);
        }
        top++; // Move top boundary down

        // Step 3: Traverse down along the rightmost column
        for (int i = top; i <= bottom; ++i) {
            result.push_back(matrix[i][right]);
        }
        right--; // Move right boundary left

        // Step 4: Traverse left along the bottom row (if applicable)
        if (top <= bottom) { // Check if there's still a bottom row to process
            for (int i = right; i >= left; --i) {
                result.push_back(matrix[bottom][i]);
            }
            bottom--; // Move bottom boundary up
        }

        // Step 5: Traverse up along the leftmost column (if applicable)
        if (left <= right) { // Check if there's still a leftmost column to process
            for (int i = bottom; i >= top; --i) {
                result.push_back(matrix[i][left]);
            }
            left++; // Move left boundary right
        }
    }

    // Step 6: Print the spiral order
    std::cout << "Spiral order: ";
    for (int val : result) {
        std::cout << val << " ";
    }
    std::cout << std::endl;

    return 0;
}