#define MAX_N 100010 // second approach: O(n log n)
char T[MAX_N]; // the input string, up to 100K characters
int n; // the length of input string
int RA[MAX_N], tempRA[MAX_N]; // rank array and temporary rank array
int SA[MAX_N], tempSA[MAX_N]; // suffix array and temporary suffix array
int c[MAX_N]; // for counting/radix sort
void countingSort(int k) { // O(n)
int i, sum, maxi = max(300, n); // up to 255 ASCII chars or length of n
memset(c, 0, sizeof c); // clear frequency table
for (i = 0; i < n; i++){ // count the frequency of each integer rank
c[i + k < n ? RA[i + k] : 0]++;
}
for (i = sum = 0; i < maxi; i++) {
int t = c[i]; c[i] = sum; sum += t;
}
for (i = 0; i < n; i++){ // shuffle the suffix array if necessary
tempSA[c[SA[i]+k < n ? RA[SA[i]+k] : 0]++] = SA[i];
}
for (i = 0; i < n; i++){ // update the suffix array SA
SA[i] = tempSA[i];
}
}
void constructSA() { // this version can go up to 100000 characters
int i, k, r;
for (i = 0; i < n; i++) RA[i] = T[i]; // initial rankings
for (i = 0; i < n; i++) SA[i] = i; //initial SA: {0, 1, 2, ..., n-1}
for (k = 1; k < n; k <<= 1) { // repeat sorting process log n times
countingSort(k); //actually radix sort:sort based on the second item
countingSort(0); // then (stable) sort based on the first item
tempRA[SA[0]] = r = 0; // re-ranking; start from rank r = 0
// compare adjacent suffixes
for (i = 1; i < n; i++){
// if same pair => same rank r; otherwise,increase r
tempRA[SA[i]] = (RA[SA[i]] == RA[SA[i-1]] && RA[SA[i]+k] == RA[SA[i-1]+k]) ? r : ++r;
}
for (i = 0; i < n; i++){// update the rank array RA
RA[i] = tempRA[i];
}
if (RA[SA[n-1]] == n-1) break; // nice optimization trick
}
}
Because practically when you append a special character (which its ASCII value is lower than any letter in the alphabet) at the end of your string, you're implying that this unused suffix will always have the rank 0, therefore your smallest suffix is always in the index 1 rather than 0.