2025-01-30
2493. Divide Nodes Into the Maximum Number of Groups

Topic: Breadth-First Search, Union Find, Graph
Difficulty: Hard

Problem:
You are given a positive integer n representing the number of nodes in an undirected graph. The nodes are labeled from 1 to n.

You are also given a 2D integer array edges, where edges[i] = [a_i, b_i] indicates that there is a bidirectional edge between nodes a_i and b_i. Notice that the given graph may be disconnected.

Divide the nodes of the graph into m groups (1-indexed) such that:

• Each node in the graph belongs to exactly one group.
• For every pair of nodes in the graph that are connected by an edge [a_i, b_i], if a_i belongs to the group with index x, and b_i belongs to the group with index y, then |y - x| = 1.

Return the maximum number of groups (i.e., maximum m) into which you can divide the nodes. Return -1 if it is impossible to group the nodes with the given conditions.

Example 1:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2022/10/13/example1.png

Input: n = 6, edges = [[1,2],[1,4],[1,5],[2,6],[2,3],[4,6]]
Output: 4
Explanation: As shown in the image we:
- Add node 5 to the first group.
- Add node 1 to the second group.
- Add nodes 2 and 4 to the third group.
- Add nodes 3 and 6 to the fourth group.
We can see that every edge is satisfied.
It can be shown that that if we create a fifth group and move any node from the third or fourth group to it, at least on of the edges will not be satisfied.

Example 2:

Input: n = 3, edges = [[1,2],[2,3],[3,1]]
Output: -1
Explanation: If we add node 1 to the first group, node 2 to the second group, and node 3 to the third group to satisfy the first two edges, we can see that the third edge will not be satisfied.
It can be shown that no grouping is possible.

Constraints:

• 1 <= n <= 500
• 1 <= edges.length <= 10^4
• edges[i].length == 2
• 1 <= a_i, b_i <= n
• a_i != b_i
• There is at most one edge between any pair of vertices.

2025-01-31
827. Making A Large Island

Topic: Array, Depth-First Search, Breadth-First Search, Union Find, Matrix
Difficulty: Hard

Problem:
You are given an n x n binary matrix grid. You are allowed to change at most one 0 to be 1.

Return the size of the largest island in grid after applying this operation.

An island is a 4-directionally connected group of 1s.

Example 1:

Input: grid = [[1,0],[0,1]]
Output: 3
Explanation: Change one 0 to 1 and connect two 1s, then we get an island with area = 3.

Example 2:

Input: grid = [[1,1],[1,0]]
Output: 4
Explanation: Change the 0 to 1 and make the island bigger, only one island with area = 4.

Example 3:

Input: grid = [[1,1],[1,1]]
Output: 4
Explanation: Can't change any 0 to 1, only one island with area = 4.

Constraints:

• n == grid.length
• n == grid[i].length
• 1 <= n <= 500
• grid[i][j] is either 0 or 1.

2025-02-01
3151. Special Array I

Topic: Array
Difficulty: Easy

Problem:
An array is considered special if every pair of its adjacent elements contains two numbers with different parity.

You are given an array of integers nums. Return true if nums is a special array, otherwise, return false.

Example 1:

Input: nums = 1

Output: true

Explanation:

There is only one element. So the answer is true.

Example 2:

Input: nums = 2,1,4

Output: true

Explanation:

There is only two pairs: (2,1) and (1,4), and both of them contain numbers with different parity. So the answer is true.

Example 3:

Input: nums = 4,3,1,6

Output: false

Explanation:

nums[1] and nums[2] are both odd. So the answer is false.

Constraints:

• 1 <= nums.length <= 100
• 1 <= nums[i] <= 100

2025-02-02
1752. Check if Array Is Sorted and Rotated

Topic: Array
Difficulty: Easy

Problem:
Given an array nums, return true if the array was originally sorted in non-decreasing order, then rotated some number of positions (including zero). Otherwise, return false.

There may be duplicates in the original array.

Note: An array A rotated by x positions results in an array B of the same length such that A[i] == B[(i+x) % A.length], where % is the modulo operation.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [3,4,5,1,2]
Output: true
Explanation: [1,2,3,4,5] is the original sorted array.
You can rotate the array by x = 3 positions to begin on the the element of value 3: [3,4,5,1,2].

Example 2:

Input: nums = [2,1,3,4]
Output: false
Explanation: There is no sorted array once rotated that can make nums.

Example 3:

Input: nums = [1,2,3]
Output: true
Explanation: [1,2,3] is the original sorted array.
You can rotate the array by x = 0 positions (i.e. no rotation) to make nums.

Constraints:

• 1 <= nums.length <= 100
• 1 <= nums[i] <= 100

2025-02-03
3105. Longest Strictly Increasing or Strictly Decreasing Subarray

Topic: Array
Difficulty: Easy

Problem:
You are given an array of integers nums. Return the length of the longest subarray of nums which is either strictly increasing or strictly decreasing.

Example 1:

Input: nums = 1,4,3,3,2

Output: 2

Explanation:

The strictly increasing subarrays of nums are [1], [2], [3], [3], [4], and [1,4].

The strictly decreasing subarrays of nums are [1], [2], [3], [3], [4], [3,2], and [4,3].

Hence, we return 2.

Example 2:

Input: nums = 3,3,3,3

Output: 1

Explanation:

The strictly increasing subarrays of nums are [3], [3], [3], and [3].

The strictly decreasing subarrays of nums are [3], [3], [3], and [3].

Hence, we return 1.

Example 3:

Input: nums = 3,2,1

Output: 3

Explanation:

The strictly increasing subarrays of nums are [3], [2], and [1].

The strictly decreasing subarrays of nums are [3], [2], [1], [3,2], [2,1], and [3,2,1].

Hence, we return 3.

Constraints:

• 1 <= nums.length <= 50
• 1 <= nums[i] <= 50

2025-02-04
1800. Maximum Ascending Subarray Sum

Topic: Array
Difficulty: Easy

Problem:
Given an array of positive integers nums, return the maximum possible sum of an ascending subarray in nums.

A subarray is defined as a contiguous sequence of numbers in an array.

A subarray [nums_l, nums_l+1, ..., nums_r-1, nums_r] is ascending if for all i where l <= i < r, nums_i < nums_i+1. Note that a subarray of size 1 is ascending.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [10,20,30,5,10,50]
Output: 65
Explanation: [5,10,50] is the ascending subarray with the maximum sum of 65.

Example 2:

Input: nums = [10,20,30,40,50]
Output: 150
Explanation: [10,20,30,40,50] is the ascending subarray with the maximum sum of 150.

Example 3:

Input: nums = [12,17,15,13,10,11,12]
Output: 33
Explanation: [10,11,12] is the ascending subarray with the maximum sum of 33.

Constraints:

• 1 <= nums.length <= 100
• 1 <= nums[i] <= 100

2025-02-05
1790. Check if One String Swap Can Make Strings Equal

Topic: Hash Table, String, Counting
Difficulty: Easy

Problem:
You are given two strings s1 and s2 of equal length. A string swap is an operation where you choose two indices in a string (not necessarily different) and swap the characters at these indices.

Return true if it is possible to make both strings equal by performing at most one string swap on exactly one of the strings. Otherwise, return false.

Example 1:

Input: s1 = "bank", s2 = "kanb"
Output: true
Explanation: For example, swap the first character with the last character of s2 to make "bank".

Example 2:

Input: s1 = "attack", s2 = "defend"
Output: false
Explanation: It is impossible to make them equal with one string swap.

Example 3:

Input: s1 = "kelb", s2 = "kelb"
Output: true
Explanation: The two strings are already equal, so no string swap operation is required.

Constraints:

• 1 <= s1.length, s2.length <= 100
• s1.length == s2.length
• s1 and s2 consist of only lowercase English letters.

2025-02-06
1726. Tuple with Same Product

Topic: Array, Hash Table, Counting
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
Given an array nums of distinct positive integers, return the number of tuples (a, b, c, d) such that a * b = c * d where a, b, c, and d are elements of nums, and a != b != c != d.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [2,3,4,6]
Output: 8
Explanation: There are 8 valid tuples:
(2,6,3,4) , (2,6,4,3) , (6,2,3,4) , (6,2,4,3)
(3,4,2,6) , (4,3,2,6) , (3,4,6,2) , (4,3,6,2)

Example 2:

Input: nums = [1,2,4,5,10]
Output: 16
Explanation: There are 16 valid tuples:
(1,10,2,5) , (1,10,5,2) , (10,1,2,5) , (10,1,5,2)
(2,5,1,10) , (2,5,10,1) , (5,2,1,10) , (5,2,10,1)
(2,10,4,5) , (2,10,5,4) , (10,2,4,5) , (10,2,5,4)
(4,5,2,10) , (4,5,10,2) , (5,4,2,10) , (5,4,10,2)

Constraints:

• 1 <= nums.length <= 1000
• 1 <= nums[i] <= 10^4
• All elements in nums are distinct.

2025-02-07
3160. Find the Number of Distinct Colors Among the Balls

Topic: Array, Hash Table, Simulation
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You are given an integer limit and a 2D array queries of size n x 2.

There are limit + 1 balls with distinct labels in the range [0, limit]. Initially, all balls are uncolored. For every query in queries that is of the form [x, y], you mark ball x with the color y. After each query, you need to find the number of distinct colors among the balls.

Return an array result of length n, where result[i] denotes the number of distinct colors after i^th query.

Note that when answering a query, lack of a color will not be considered as a color.

Example 1:

Input: limit = 4, queries = [1,4,2,5,1,3,3,4]

Output: 1,2,2,3

Explanation:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2024/04/17/ezgifcom-crop.gif

• After query 0, ball 1 has color 4.
• After query 1, ball 1 has color 4, and ball 2 has color 5.
• After query 2, ball 1 has color 3, and ball 2 has color 5.
• After query 3, ball 1 has color 3, ball 2 has color 5, and ball 3 has color 4.

Example 2:

Input: limit = 4, queries = [0,1,1,2,2,2,3,4,4,5]

Output: 1,2,2,3,4

Explanation:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2024/04/17/ezgifcom-crop2.gif

• After query 0, ball 0 has color 1.
• After query 1, ball 0 has color 1, and ball 1 has color 2.
• After query 2, ball 0 has color 1, and balls 1 and 2 have color 2.
• After query 3, ball 0 has color 1, balls 1 and 2 have color 2, and ball 3 has color 4.
• After query 4, ball 0 has color 1, balls 1 and 2 have color 2, ball 3 has color 4, and ball 4 has color 5.

Constraints:

• 1 <= limit <= 10^9
• 1 <= n == queries.length <= 10^5
• queries[i].length == 2
• 0 <= queries[i][0] <= limit
• 1 <= queries[i][1] <= 10^9

2025-02-08
2349. Design a Number Container System

Topic: Hash Table, Design, Heap (Priority Queue), Ordered Set
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
Design a number container system that can do the following:

• Insert or Replace a number at the given index in the system.
• Return the smallest index for the given number in the system.

Implement the NumberContainers class:

• NumberContainers() Initializes the number container system.
• void change(int index, int number) Fills the container at index with the number. If there is already a number at that index, replace it.
• int find(int number) Returns the smallest index for the given number, or -1 if there is no index that is filled by number in the system.

Example 1:

Input
["NumberContainers", "find", "change", "change", "change", "change", "find", "change", "find"]
[[], [10], [2, 10], [1, 10], [3, 10], [5, 10], [10], [1, 20], [10]]
Output
[null, -1, null, null, null, null, 1, null, 2]

Explanation
NumberContainers nc = new NumberContainers();
nc.find(10); // There is no index that is filled with number 10. Therefore, we return -1.
nc.change(2, 10); // Your container at index 2 will be filled with number 10.
nc.change(1, 10); // Your container at index 1 will be filled with number 10.
nc.change(3, 10); // Your container at index 3 will be filled with number 10.
nc.change(5, 10); // Your container at index 5 will be filled with number 10.
nc.find(10); // Number 10 is at the indices 1, 2, 3, and 5. Since the smallest index that is filled with 10 is 1, we return 1.
nc.change(1, 20); // Your container at index 1 will be filled with number 20. Note that index 1 was filled with 10 and then replaced with 20. 
nc.find(10); // Number 10 is at the indices 2, 3, and 5. The smallest index that is filled with 10 is 2. Therefore, we return 2.

Constraints:

• 1 <= index, number <= 10^9
• At most 10^5 calls will be made in total to change and find.

2025-02-09
2364. Count Number of Bad Pairs

Topic: Array, Hash Table, Math, Counting
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You are given a 0-indexed integer array nums. A pair of indices (i, j) is a bad pair if i < j and j - i != nums[j] - nums[i].

Return the total number of bad pairs in nums.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [4,1,3,3]
Output: 5
Explanation: The pair (0, 1) is a bad pair since 1 - 0 != 1 - 4.
The pair (0, 2) is a bad pair since 2 - 0 != 3 - 4, 2 != -1.
The pair (0, 3) is a bad pair since 3 - 0 != 3 - 4, 3 != -1.
The pair (1, 2) is a bad pair since 2 - 1 != 3 - 1, 1 != 2.
The pair (2, 3) is a bad pair since 3 - 2 != 3 - 3, 1 != 0.
There are a total of 5 bad pairs, so we return 5.

Example 2:

Input: nums = [1,2,3,4,5]
Output: 0
Explanation: There are no bad pairs.

Constraints:

• 1 <= nums.length <= 10^5
• 1 <= nums[i] <= 10^9

2025-02-10
3174. Clear Digits

Topic: String, Stack, Simulation
Difficulty: Easy

Problem:
You are given a string s.

Your task is to remove all digits by doing this operation repeatedly:

• Delete the first digit and the closest non-digit character to its left.

Return the resulting string after removing all digits.

Example 1:

Input: s = "abc"

Output: "abc"

Explanation:

There is no digit in the string.

Example 2:

Input: s = "cb34"

Output: ""

Explanation:

First, we apply the operation on s[2], and s becomes "c4".

Then we apply the operation on s[1], and s becomes "".

Constraints:

• 1 <= s.length <= 100
• s consists only of lowercase English letters and digits.
• The input is generated such that it is possible to delete all digits.

2025-02-11
1910. Remove All Occurrences of a Substring

Topic: String, Stack, Simulation
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
Given two strings s and part, perform the following operation on s until all occurrences of the substring part are removed:

• Find the leftmost occurrence of the substring part and remove it from s.

Return s after removing all occurrences of part.

A substring is a contiguous sequence of characters in a string.

Example 1:

Input: s = "daabcbaabcbc", part = "abc"
Output: "dab"
Explanation: The following operations are done:
- s = "daabcbaabcbc", remove "abc" starting at index 2, so s = "dabaabcbc".
- s = "dabaabcbc", remove "abc" starting at index 4, so s = "dababc".
- s = "dababc", remove "abc" starting at index 3, so s = "dab".
Now s has no occurrences of "abc".

Example 2:

Input: s = "axxxxyyyyb", part = "xy"
Output: "ab"
Explanation: The following operations are done:
- s = "axxxxyyyyb", remove "xy" starting at index 4 so s = "axxxyyyb".
- s = "axxxyyyb", remove "xy" starting at index 3 so s = "axxyyb".
- s = "axxyyb", remove "xy" starting at index 2 so s = "axyb".
- s = "axyb", remove "xy" starting at index 1 so s = "ab".
Now s has no occurrences of "xy".

Constraints:

• 1 <= s.length <= 1000
• 1 <= part.length <= 1000
• s​​​​​​ and part consists of lowercase English letters.

2025-02-12
2342. Max Sum of a Pair With Equal Sum of Digits

Topic: Array, Hash Table, Sorting, Heap (Priority Queue)
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You are given a 0-indexed array nums consisting of positive integers. You can choose two indices i and j, such that i != j, and the sum of digits of the number nums[i] is equal to that of nums[j].

Return the maximum value of nums[i] + nums[j] that you can obtain over all possible indices i and j that satisfy the conditions.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [18,43,36,13,7]
Output: 54
Explanation: The pairs (i, j) that satisfy the conditions are:
- (0, 2), both numbers have a sum of digits equal to 9, and their sum is 18 + 36 = 54.
- (1, 4), both numbers have a sum of digits equal to 7, and their sum is 43 + 7 = 50.
So the maximum sum that we can obtain is 54.

Example 2:

Input: nums = [10,12,19,14]
Output: -1
Explanation: There are no two numbers that satisfy the conditions, so we return -1.

Constraints:

• 1 <= nums.length <= 10^5
• 1 <= nums[i] <= 10^9

2025-02-13
3066. Minimum Operations to Exceed Threshold Value II

Topic: Array, Heap (Priority Queue), Simulation
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You are given a 0-indexed integer array nums, and an integer k.

In one operation, you will:

• Take the two smallest integers x and y in nums.
• Remove x and y from nums.
• Add min(x, y) * 2 + max(x, y) anywhere in the array.

Note that you can only apply the described operation if nums contains at least two elements.

Return the minimum number of operations needed so that all elements of the array are greater than or equal to k.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [2,11,10,1,3], k = 10
Output: 2
Explanation: In the first operation, we remove elements 1 and 2, then add 1 * 2 + 2 to nums. nums becomes equal to [4, 11, 10, 3].
In the second operation, we remove elements 3 and 4, then add 3 * 2 + 4 to nums. nums becomes equal to [10, 11, 10].
At this stage, all the elements of nums are greater than or equal to 10 so we can stop.
It can be shown that 2 is the minimum number of operations needed so that all elements of the array are greater than or equal to 10.

Example 2:

Input: nums = [1,1,2,4,9], k = 20
Output: 4
Explanation: After one operation, nums becomes equal to [2, 4, 9, 3].
After two operations, nums becomes equal to [7, 4, 9].
After three operations, nums becomes equal to [15, 9].
After four operations, nums becomes equal to [33].
At this stage, all the elements of nums are greater than 20 so we can stop.
It can be shown that 4 is the minimum number of operations needed so that all elements of the array are greater than or equal to 20.

Constraints:

• 2 <= nums.length <= 2 * 10^5
• 1 <= nums[i] <= 10^9
• 1 <= k <= 10^9
• The input is generated such that an answer always exists. That is, there exists some sequence of operations after which all elements of the array are greater than or equal to k.

2025-02-14
1352. Product of the Last K Numbers

Topic: Array, Math, Design, Data Stream, Prefix Sum
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
Design an algorithm that accepts a stream of integers and retrieves the product of the last k integers of the stream.

Implement the ProductOfNumbers class:

• ProductOfNumbers() Initializes the object with an empty stream.
• void add(int num) Appends the integer num to the stream.
• int getProduct(int k) Returns the product of the last k numbers in the current list. You can assume that always the current list has at least k numbers.

The test cases are generated so that, at any time, the product of any contiguous sequence of numbers will fit into a single 32-bit integer without overflowing.

Example:

Input
["ProductOfNumbers","add","add","add","add","add","getProduct","getProduct","getProduct","add","getProduct"]
[[],[3],[0],[2],[5],[4],[2],[3],[4],[8],[2]]

Output
[null,null,null,null,null,null,20,40,0,null,32]

Explanation
ProductOfNumbers productOfNumbers = new ProductOfNumbers();
productOfNumbers.add(3);        // [3]
productOfNumbers.add(0);        // [3,0]
productOfNumbers.add(2);        // [3,0,2]
productOfNumbers.add(5);        // [3,0,2,5]
productOfNumbers.add(4);        // [3,0,2,5,4]
productOfNumbers.getProduct(2); // return 20. The product of the last 2 numbers is 5 * 4 = 20
productOfNumbers.getProduct(3); // return 40. The product of the last 3 numbers is 2 * 5 * 4 = 40
productOfNumbers.getProduct(4); // return 0. The product of the last 4 numbers is 0 * 2 * 5 * 4 = 0
productOfNumbers.add(8);        // [3,0,2,5,4,8]
productOfNumbers.getProduct(2); // return 32. The product of the last 2 numbers is 4 * 8 = 32

Constraints:

• 0 <= num <= 100
• 1 <= k <= 4 * 10^4
• At most 4 * 10^4 calls will be made to add and getProduct.
• The product of the stream at any point in time will fit in a 32-bit integer.

Follow-up: Can you implement both GetProduct and Add to work in O(1) time complexity instead of O(k) time complexity?

2025-02-15
2698. Find the Punishment Number of an Integer

Topic: Math, Backtracking
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
Given a positive integer n, return the punishment number of n.

The punishment number of n is defined as the sum of the squares of all integers i such that:

• 1 <= i <= n
• The decimal representation of i * i can be partitioned into contiguous substrings such that the sum of the integer values of these substrings equals i.

Example 1:

Input: n = 10
Output: 182
Explanation: There are exactly 3 integers i in the range [1, 10] that satisfy the conditions in the statement:
- 1 since 1 * 1 = 1
- 9 since 9 * 9 = 81 and 81 can be partitioned into 8 and 1 with a sum equal to 8 + 1 == 9.
- 10 since 10 * 10 = 100 and 100 can be partitioned into 10 and 0 with a sum equal to 10 + 0 == 10.
Hence, the punishment number of 10 is 1 + 81 + 100 = 182

Example 2:

Input: n = 37
Output: 1478
Explanation: There are exactly 4 integers i in the range [1, 37] that satisfy the conditions in the statement:
- 1 since 1 * 1 = 1. 
- 9 since 9 * 9 = 81 and 81 can be partitioned into 8 + 1. 
- 10 since 10 * 10 = 100 and 100 can be partitioned into 10 + 0. 
- 36 since 36 * 36 = 1296 and 1296 can be partitioned into 1 + 29 + 6.
Hence, the punishment number of 37 is 1 + 81 + 100 + 1296 = 1478

Constraints:

• 1 <= n <= 1000

2025-02-16
1718. Construct the Lexicographically Largest Valid Sequence

Topic: Array, Backtracking
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
Given an integer n, find a sequence that satisfies all of the following:

• The integer 1 occurs once in the sequence.
• Each integer between 2 and n occurs twice in the sequence.
• For every integer i between 2 and n, the distance between the two occurrences of i is exactly i.

The distance between two numbers on the sequence, a[i] and a[j], is the absolute difference of their indices, |j - i|.

Return the lexicographically largest sequence. It is guaranteed that under the given constraints, there is always a solution.

A sequence a is lexicographically larger than a sequence b (of the same length) if in the first position where a and b differ, sequence a has a number greater than the corresponding number in b. For example, [0,1,9,0] is lexicographically larger than [0,1,5,6] because the first position they differ is at the third number, and 9 is greater than 5.

Example 1:

Input: n = 3
Output: [3,1,2,3,2]
Explanation: [2,3,2,1,3] is also a valid sequence, but [3,1,2,3,2] is the lexicographically largest valid sequence.

Example 2:

Input: n = 5
Output: [5,3,1,4,3,5,2,4,2]

Constraints:

• 1 <= n <= 20

2025-02-17
1079. Letter Tile Possibilities

Topic: Hash Table, String, Backtracking, Counting
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You have n  tiles, where each tile has one letter tiles[i] printed on it.

Return the number of possible non-empty sequences of letters you can make using the letters printed on those tiles.

Example 1:

Input: tiles = "AAB"
Output: 8
Explanation: The possible sequences are "A", "B", "AA", "AB", "BA", "AAB", "ABA", "BAA".

Example 2:

Input: tiles = "AAABBC"
Output: 188

Example 3:

Input: tiles = "V"
Output: 1

Constraints:

• 1 <= tiles.length <= 7
• tiles consists of uppercase English letters.

2025-02-18
2375. Construct Smallest Number From DI String

Topic: String, Backtracking, Stack, Greedy
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You are given a 0-indexed string pattern of length n consisting of the characters 'I' meaning increasing and 'D' meaning decreasing.

A 0-indexed string num of length n + 1 is created using the following conditions:

• num consists of the digits '1' to '9', where each digit is used at most once.
• If pattern[i] == 'I', then num[i] < num[i + 1].
• If pattern[i] == 'D', then num[i] > num[i + 1].

Return the lexicographically smallest possible string num that meets the conditions.

Example 1:

Input: pattern = "IIIDIDDD"
Output: "123549876"
Explanation:
At indices 0, 1, 2, and 4 we must have that num[i] < num[i+1].
At indices 3, 5, 6, and 7 we must have that num[i] > num[i+1].
Some possible values of num are "245639871", "135749862", and "123849765".
It can be proven that "123549876" is the smallest possible num that meets the conditions.
Note that "123414321" is not possible because the digit '1' is used more than once.

Example 2:

Input: pattern = "DDD"
Output: "4321"
Explanation:
Some possible values of num are "9876", "7321", and "8742".
It can be proven that "4321" is the smallest possible num that meets the conditions.

Constraints:

• 1 <= pattern.length <= 8
• pattern consists of only the letters 'I' and 'D'.

2025-02-19
1415. The k-th Lexicographical String of All Happy Strings of Length n

Topic: String, Backtracking
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
A happy string is a string that:

• consists only of letters of the set ['a', 'b', 'c'].
• s[i] != s[i + 1] for all values of i from 1 to s.length - 1 (string is 1-indexed).

For example, strings "abc", "ac", "b" and "abcbabcbcb" are all happy strings and strings "aa", "baa" and "ababbc" are not happy strings.

Given two integers n and k, consider a list of all happy strings of length n sorted in lexicographical order.

Return the kth string of this list or return an empty string if there are less than k happy strings of length n.

Example 1:

Input: n = 1, k = 3
Output: "c"
Explanation: The list ["a", "b", "c"] contains all happy strings of length 1. The third string is "c".

Example 2:

Input: n = 1, k = 4
Output: ""
Explanation: There are only 3 happy strings of length 1.

Example 3:

Input: n = 3, k = 9
Output: "cab"
Explanation: There are 12 different happy string of length 3 ["aba", "abc", "aca", "acb", "bab", "bac", "bca", "bcb", "cab", "cac", "cba", "cbc"]. You will find the 9^th string = "cab"

Constraints:

• 1 <= n <= 10
• 1 <= k <= 100