LeetCode 2957: Remove Adjacent Almost-Equal Characters Solution

Master LeetCode problem 2957 (Remove Adjacent Almost-Equal Characters), a medium challenge, with our optimized solutions in Java, C++, and Python. Explore detailed explanations, test your code in our interactive editor, and prepare for coding interviews.

2957. Remove Adjacent Almost-Equal Characters

Medium

String Dynamic Programming Greedy

Problem Explanation

Explanation

To solve this problem, we can iterate through the string and compare each character with its adjacent characters. If we find almost-equal characters, we can change one of them to a different character to break the adjacency. We need to count the minimum number of operations needed to remove all adjacent almost-equal characters.

Algorithm

Initialize a variable operations to count the number of operations needed.
Iterate through the string starting from the second character.
Compare the current character with the previous character:
- If they are almost-equal, increment operations and change the current character to a different character.
Return the final value of operations.

Time Complexity

The time complexity of this algorithm is O(n), where n is the length of the input string.

Space Complexity

The space complexity is O(1) as we are using only a constant amount of extra space.

Solution Code

class Solution {
    public int minOperations(String word) {
        int operations = 0;
        char[] arr = word.toCharArray();
        
        for (int i = 1; i < arr.length; i++) {
            if (arr[i] == arr[i - 1] || Math.abs(arr[i] - arr[i - 1]) == 1) {
                operations++;
                arr[i] = 'a'; // Change to a different character
            }
        }
        
        return operations;
    }
}

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