LeetCode 984: String Without AAA or BBB Solution

Master LeetCode problem 984 (String Without AAA or BBB), 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.

984. String Without AAA or BBB

Medium

String Greedy

Problem Explanation

Explanation:

To solve this problem, we need to construct a string of length a + b such that it contains exactly a 'a' characters and b 'b' characters without having the substrings 'aaa' or 'bbb'.

One approach to solve this problem is as follows:

Start by creating an empty result string.
While a or b is greater than zero:
- If a is greater than b, add 'a' to the result string and decrement a.
- Otherwise, add 'b' to the result string and decrement b.
- If the last two characters in the result string are 'aa', add 'b' to avoid 'aaa'.
- If the last two characters in the result string are 'bb', add 'a' to avoid 'bbb'.

This process will ensure that we construct a valid string meeting the requirements.

Solution Code

class Solution {
    public String strWithout3a3b(int a, int b) {
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        while (a > 0 || b > 0) {
            if (a > b) {
                sb.append("a");
                a--;
            } else if (b > a) {
                sb.append("b");
                b--;
            }
            if (sb.length() >= 2 && sb.charAt(sb.length() - 1) == sb.charAt(sb.length() - 2)) {
                if (sb.charAt(sb.length() - 1) == 'a') {
                    sb.append("b");
                    b--;
                } else {
                    sb.append("a");
                    a--;
                }
            }
        }
        return sb.toString();
    }
}

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