2024-11-17
862. Shortest Subarray with Sum at Least K

Topic: Array, Binary Search, Queue, Sliding Window, Heap (Priority Queue), Prefix Sum, Monotonic Queue
Difficulty: Hard

Problem:
Given an integer array nums and an integer k, return the length of the shortest non-empty subarray of nums with a sum of at least k. If there is no such subarray, return -1.

A subarray is a contiguous part of an array.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [1], k = 1
Output: 1

Example 2:

Input: nums = [1,2], k = 4
Output: -1

Example 3:

Input: nums = [2,-1,2], k = 3
Output: 3

Constraints:

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

2024-11-18
1652. Defuse the Bomb

Topic: Array, Sliding Window
Difficulty: Easy

Problem:
You have a bomb to defuse, and your time is running out! Your informer will provide you with a circular array code of length of n and a key k.

To decrypt the code, you must replace every number. All the numbers are replaced simultaneously.

• If k > 0, replace the i^th number with the sum of the next k numbers.
• If k < 0, replace the i^th number with the sum of the previous k numbers.
• If k == 0, replace the i^th number with 0.

As code is circular, the next element of code[n-1] is code[0], and the previous element of code[0] is code[n-1].

Given the circular array code and an integer key k, return the decrypted code to defuse the bomb!

Example 1:

Input: code = [5,7,1,4], k = 3
Output: [12,10,16,13]
Explanation: Each number is replaced by the sum of the next 3 numbers. The decrypted code is [7+1+4, 1+4+5, 4+5+7, 5+7+1]. Notice that the numbers wrap around.

Example 2:

Input: code = [1,2,3,4], k = 0
Output: [0,0,0,0]
Explanation: When k is zero, the numbers are replaced by 0.

Example 3:

Input: code = [2,4,9,3], k = -2
Output: [12,5,6,13]
Explanation: The decrypted code is [3+9, 2+3, 4+2, 9+4]. Notice that the numbers wrap around again. If k is negative, the sum is of the previous numbers.

Constraints:

• n == code.length
• 1 <= n <= 100
• 1 <= code[i] <= 100
• -(n - 1) <= k <= n - 1

2024-11-19
2461. Maximum Sum of Distinct Subarrays With Length K

Topic: Array, Hash Table, Sliding Window
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You are given an integer array nums and an integer k. Find the maximum subarray sum of all the subarrays of nums that meet the following conditions:

• The length of the subarray is k, and
• All the elements of the subarray are distinct.

Return the maximum subarray sum of all the subarrays that meet the conditions. If no subarray meets the conditions, return 0.

A subarray is a contiguous non-empty sequence of elements within an array.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [1,5,4,2,9,9,9], k = 3
Output: 15
Explanation: The subarrays of nums with length 3 are:
- [1,5,4] which meets the requirements and has a sum of 10.
- [5,4,2] which meets the requirements and has a sum of 11.
- [4,2,9] which meets the requirements and has a sum of 15.
- [2,9,9] which does not meet the requirements because the element 9 is repeated.
- [9,9,9] which does not meet the requirements because the element 9 is repeated.
We return 15 because it is the maximum subarray sum of all the subarrays that meet the conditions

Example 2:

Input: nums = [4,4,4], k = 3
Output: 0
Explanation: The subarrays of nums with length 3 are:
- [4,4,4] which does not meet the requirements because the element 4 is repeated.
We return 0 because no subarrays meet the conditions.

Constraints:

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

2024-11-20
2516. Take K of Each Character From Left and Right

Topic: Hash Table, String, Sliding Window
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You are given a string s consisting of the characters 'a', 'b', and 'c' and a non-negative integer k. Each minute, you may take either the leftmost character of s, or the rightmost character of s.

Return the minimum number of minutes needed for you to take at least k of each character, or return -1 if it is not possible to take k of each character.

Example 1:

Input: s = "aabaaaacaabc", k = 2
Output: 8
Explanation: 
Take three characters from the left of s. You now have two 'a' characters, and one 'b' character.
Take five characters from the right of s. You now have four 'a' characters, two 'b' characters, and two 'c' characters.
A total of 3 + 5 = 8 minutes is needed.
It can be proven that 8 is the minimum number of minutes needed.

Example 2:

Input: s = "a", k = 1
Output: -1
Explanation: It is not possible to take one 'b' or 'c' so return -1.

Constraints:

• 1 <= s.length <= 10^5
• s consists of only the letters 'a', 'b', and 'c'.
• 0 <= k <= s.length

2024-11-21
2257. Count Unguarded Cells in the Grid

Topic: Array, Matrix, Simulation
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You are given two integers m and n representing a 0-indexed m x n grid. You are also given two 2D integer arrays guards and walls where guards[i] = [row_i, col_i] and walls[j] = [row_j, col_j] represent the positions of the i^th guard and j^th wall respectively.

A guard can see every cell in the four cardinal directions (north, east, south, or west) starting from their position unless obstructed by a wall or another guard. A cell is guarded if there is at least one guard that can see it.

Return the number of unoccupied cells that are not guarded.

Example 1:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2022/03/10/example1drawio2.png

Input: m = 4, n = 6, guards = [[0,0],[1,1],[2,3]], walls = [[0,1],[2,2],[1,4]]
Output: 7
Explanation: The guarded and unguarded cells are shown in red and green respectively in the above diagram.
There are a total of 7 unguarded cells, so we return 7.

Example 2:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2022/03/10/example2drawio.png

Input: m = 3, n = 3, guards = [[1,1]], walls = [[0,1],[1,0],[2,1],[1,2]]
Output: 4
Explanation: The unguarded cells are shown in green in the above diagram.
There are a total of 4 unguarded cells, so we return 4.

Constraints:

• 1 <= m, n <= 10^5
• 2 <= m * n <= 10^5
• 1 <= guards.length, walls.length <= 5 * 10^4
• 2 <= guards.length + walls.length <= m * n
• guards[i].length == walls[j].length == 2
• 0 <= row_i, row_j < m
• 0 <= col_i, col_j < n
• All the positions in guards and walls are unique.

2024-11-22
1072. Flip Columns For Maximum Number of Equal Rows

Topic: Array, Hash Table, Matrix
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You are given an m x n binary matrix matrix.

You can choose any number of columns in the matrix and flip every cell in that column (i.e., Change the value of the cell from 0 to 1 or vice versa).

Return the maximum number of rows that have all values equal after some number of flips.

Example 1:

Input: matrix = [[0,1],[1,1]]
Output: 1
Explanation: After flipping no values, 1 row has all values equal.

Example 2:

Input: matrix = [[0,1],[1,0]]
Output: 2
Explanation: After flipping values in the first column, both rows have equal values.

Example 3:

Input: matrix = [[0,0,0],[0,0,1],[1,1,0]]
Output: 2
Explanation: After flipping values in the first two columns, the last two rows have equal values.

Constraints:

• m == matrix.length
• n == matrix[i].length
• 1 <= m, n <= 300
• matrix[i][j] is either 0 or 1.

2024-11-23
1861. Rotating the Box

Topic: Array, Two Pointers, Matrix
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You are given an m x n matrix of characters box representing a side-view of a box. Each cell of the box is one of the following:

• A stone '#'
• A stationary obstacle '*'
• Empty '.'

The box is rotated 90 degrees clockwise, causing some of the stones to fall due to gravity. Each stone falls down until it lands on an obstacle, another stone, or the bottom of the box. Gravity does not affect the obstacles' positions, and the inertia from the box's rotation does not affect the stones' horizontal positions.

It is guaranteed that each stone in box rests on an obstacle, another stone, or the bottom of the box.

Return an n x m matrix representing the box after the rotation described above.

Example 1:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2021/04/08/rotatingtheboxleetcodewithstones.png

Input: box = [["#",".","#"]]
Output: [["."],
         ["#"],
         ["#"]]

Example 2:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2021/04/08/rotatingtheboxleetcode2withstones.png

Input: box = [["#",".","*","."],
              ["#","#","*","."]]
Output: [["#","."],
         ["#","#"],
         ["*","*"],
         [".","."]]

Example 3:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2021/04/08/rotatingtheboxleetcode3withstone.png

Input: box = [["#","#","*",".","*","."],
              ["#","#","#","*",".","."],
              ["#","#","#",".","#","."]]
Output: [[".","#","#"],
         [".","#","#"],
         ["#","#","*"],
         ["#","*","."],
         ["#",".","*"],
         ["#",".","."]]

Constraints:

• m == box.length
• n == box[i].length
• 1 <= m, n <= 500
• box[i][j] is either '#', '*', or '.'.

2024-11-24
1975. Maximum Matrix Sum

Topic: Array, Greedy, Matrix
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You are given an n x n integer matrix. You can do the following operation any number of times:

• Choose any two adjacent elements of matrix and multiply each of them by -1.

Two elements are considered adjacent if and only if they share a border.

Your goal is to maximize the summation of the matrix's elements. Return the maximum sum of the matrix's elements using the operation mentioned above.

Example 1:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2021/07/16/pc79-q2ex1.png

Input: matrix = [[1,-1],[-1,1]]
Output: 4
Explanation: We can follow the following steps to reach sum equals 4:
- Multiply the 2 elements in the first row by -1.
- Multiply the 2 elements in the first column by -1.

Example 2:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2021/07/16/pc79-q2ex2.png

Input: matrix = [[1,2,3],[-1,-2,-3],[1,2,3]]
Output: 16
Explanation: We can follow the following step to reach sum equals 16:
- Multiply the 2 last elements in the second row by -1.

Constraints:

• n == matrix.length == matrix[i].length
• 2 <= n <= 250
• -10^5 <= matrix[i][j] <= 10^5

2024-11-25
773. Sliding Puzzle

Topic: Array, Breadth-First Search, Matrix
Difficulty: Hard

Problem:
On an 2 x 3 board, there are five tiles labeled from 1 to 5, and an empty square represented by 0. A move consists of choosing 0 and a 4-directionally adjacent number and swapping it.

The state of the board is solved if and only if the board is [[1,2,3],[4,5,0]].

Given the puzzle board board, return the least number of moves required so that the state of the board is solved. If it is impossible for the state of the board to be solved, return -1.

Example 1:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2021/06/29/slide1-grid.jpg

Input: board = [[1,2,3],[4,0,5]]
Output: 1
Explanation: Swap the 0 and the 5 in one move.

Example 2:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2021/06/29/slide2-grid.jpg

Input: board = [[1,2,3],[5,4,0]]
Output: -1
Explanation: No number of moves will make the board solved.

Example 3:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2021/06/29/slide3-grid.jpg

Input: board = [[4,1,2],[5,0,3]]
Output: 5
Explanation: 5 is the smallest number of moves that solves the board.
An example path:
After move 0: [[4,1,2],[5,0,3]]
After move 1: [[4,1,2],[0,5,3]]
After move 2: [[0,1,2],[4,5,3]]
After move 3: [[1,0,2],[4,5,3]]
After move 4: [[1,2,0],[4,5,3]]
After move 5: [[1,2,3],[4,5,0]]

Constraints:

• board.length == 2
• board[i].length == 3
• 0 <= board[i][j] <= 5
• Each value board[i][j] is unique.

2024-11-26
2924. Find Champion II

Topic: Graph
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
There are n teams numbered from 0 to n - 1 in a tournament; each team is also a node in a DAG.

You are given the integer n and a 0-indexed 2D integer array edges of length m representing the DAG, where edges[i] = [u_i, v_i] indicates that there is a directed edge from team u_i to team v_i in the graph.

A directed edge from a to b in the graph means that team a is stronger than team b and team b is weaker than team a.

Team a will be the champion of the tournament if there is no team b that is stronger than team a.

Return the team that will be the champion of the tournament if there is a unique champion, otherwise, return -1.

Notes

• A cycle is a series of nodes a_1, a_2, ..., a_n, a_n+1 such that node a_1 is the same node as node a_n+1, the nodes a_1, a_2, ..., a_n are distinct, and there is a directed edge from the node a_i to node a_i+1 for every i in the range [1, n].
• A DAG is a directed graph that does not have any cycle.

Example 1:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2023/10/19/graph-3.png

Input: n = 3, edges = [[0,1],[1,2]]
Output: 0
Explanation: Team 1 is weaker than team 0. Team 2 is weaker than team 1. So the champion is team 0.

Example 2:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2023/10/19/graph-4.png

Input: n = 4, edges = [[0,2],[1,3],[1,2]]
Output: -1
Explanation: Team 2 is weaker than team 0 and team 1. Team 3 is weaker than team 1. But team 1 and team 0 are not weaker than any other teams. So the answer is -1.

Constraints:

• 1 <= n <= 100
• m == edges.length
• 0 <= m <= n * (n - 1) / 2
• edges[i].length == 2
• 0 <= edge[i][j] <= n - 1
• edges[i][0] != edges[i][1]
• The input is generated such that if team a is stronger than team b, team b is not stronger than team a.
• The input is generated such that if team a is stronger than team b and team b is stronger than team c, then team a is stronger than team c.

2024-11-27
3243. Shortest Distance After Road Addition Queries I

Topic: Array, Breadth-First Search, Graph
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You are given an integer n and a 2D integer array queries.

There are n cities numbered from 0 to n - 1. Initially, there is a unidirectional road from city i to city i + 1 for all 0 <= i < n - 1.

queries[i] = [u_i, v_i] represents the addition of a new unidirectional road from city u_i to city v_i. After each query, you need to find the length of the shortest path from city 0 to city n - 1.

Return an array answer where for each i in the range [0, queries.length - 1], answer[i] is the length of the shortest path from city 0 to city n - 1 after processing the first i + 1 queries.

Example 1:

Input: n = 5, queries = [2,4,0,2,0,4]

Output: 3,2,1

Explanation:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2024/06/28/image8.jpg

After the addition of the road from 2 to 4, the length of the shortest path from 0 to 4 is 3.

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2024/06/28/image9.jpg

After the addition of the road from 0 to 2, the length of the shortest path from 0 to 4 is 2.

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2024/06/28/image10.jpg

After the addition of the road from 0 to 4, the length of the shortest path from 0 to 4 is 1.

Example 2:

Input: n = 4, queries = [0,3,0,2]

Output: 1,1

Explanation:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2024/06/28/image11.jpg

After the addition of the road from 0 to 3, the length of the shortest path from 0 to 3 is 1.

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2024/06/28/image12.jpg

After the addition of the road from 0 to 2, the length of the shortest path remains 1.

Constraints:

• 3 <= n <= 500
• 1 <= queries.length <= 500
• queries[i].length == 2
• 0 <= queries[i][0] < queries[i][1] < n
• 1 < queries[i][1] - queries[i][0]
• There are no repeated roads among the queries.

2024-11-28
2290. Minimum Obstacle Removal to Reach Corner

Topic: Array, Breadth-First Search, Graph, Heap (Priority Queue), Matrix, Shortest Path
Difficulty: Hard

Problem:
You are given a 0-indexed 2D integer array grid of size m x n. Each cell has one of two values:

• 0 represents an empty cell,
• 1 represents an obstacle that may be removed.

You can move up, down, left, or right from and to an empty cell.

Return the minimum number of obstacles to remove so you can move from the upper left corner (0, 0) to the lower right corner (m - 1, n - 1).

Example 1:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2022/04/06/example1drawio-1.png

Input: grid = [[0,1,1],[1,1,0],[1,1,0]]
Output: 2
Explanation: We can remove the obstacles at (0, 1) and (0, 2) to create a path from (0, 0) to (2, 2).
It can be shown that we need to remove at least 2 obstacles, so we return 2.
Note that there may be other ways to remove 2 obstacles to create a path.

Example 2:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2022/04/06/example1drawio.png

Input: grid = [[0,1,0,0,0],[0,1,0,1,0],[0,0,0,1,0]]
Output: 0
Explanation: We can move from (0, 0) to (2, 4) without removing any obstacles, so we return 0.

Constraints:

• m == grid.length
• n == grid[i].length
• 1 <= m, n <= 10^5
• 2 <= m * n <= 10^5
• grid[i][j] is either 0 or 1.
• grid[0][0] == grid[m - 1][n - 1] == 0

2024-11-29
2577. Minimum Time to Visit a Cell In a Grid

Topic: Array, Breadth-First Search, Graph, Heap (Priority Queue), Matrix, Shortest Path
Difficulty: Hard

Problem:
You are given a m x n matrix grid consisting of non-negative integers where grid[row][col] represents the minimum time required to be able to visit the cell (row, col), which means you can visit the cell (row, col) only when the time you visit it is greater than or equal to grid[row][col].

You are standing in the top-left cell of the matrix in the 0^th second, and you must move to any adjacent cell in the four directions: up, down, left, and right. Each move you make takes 1 second.

Return the minimum time required in which you can visit the bottom-right cell of the matrix. If you cannot visit the bottom-right cell, then return -1.

Example 1:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2023/02/14/yetgriddrawio-8.png

Input: grid = [[0,1,3,2],[5,1,2,5],[4,3,8,6]]
Output: 7
Explanation: One of the paths that we can take is the following:
- at t = 0, we are on the cell (0,0).
- at t = 1, we move to the cell (0,1). It is possible because grid[0][1] <= 1.
- at t = 2, we move to the cell (1,1). It is possible because grid[1][1] <= 2.
- at t = 3, we move to the cell (1,2). It is possible because grid[1][2] <= 3.
- at t = 4, we move to the cell (1,1). It is possible because grid[1][1] <= 4.
- at t = 5, we move to the cell (1,2). It is possible because grid[1][2] <= 5.
- at t = 6, we move to the cell (1,3). It is possible because grid[1][3] <= 6.
- at t = 7, we move to the cell (2,3). It is possible because grid[2][3] <= 7.
The final time is 7. It can be shown that it is the minimum time possible.

Example 2:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2023/02/14/yetgriddrawio-9.png

Input: grid = [[0,2,4],[3,2,1],[1,0,4]]
Output: -1
Explanation: There is no path from the top left to the bottom-right cell.

Constraints:

• m == grid.length
• n == grid[i].length
• 2 <= m, n <= 1000
• 4 <= m * n <= 10^5
• 0 <= grid[i][j] <= 10^5
• grid[0][0] == 0

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2024-11-30
2097. Valid Arrangement of Pairs

Topic: Depth-First Search, Graph, Eulerian Circuit
Difficulty: Hard

Problem:
You are given a 0-indexed 2D integer array pairs where pairs[i] = [start_i, end_i]. An arrangement of pairs is valid if for every index i where 1 <= i < pairs.length, we have end_i-1 == start_i.

Return any valid arrangement of pairs.

Note: The inputs will be generated such that there exists a valid arrangement of pairs.

Example 1:

Input: pairs = [[5,1],[4,5],[11,9],[9,4]]
Output: [[11,9],[9,4],[4,5],[5,1]]
Explanation:
This is a valid arrangement since end_i-1 always equals start_i.
end_0 = 9 == 9 = start_1 
end_1 = 4 == 4 = start_2
end_2 = 5 == 5 = start_3

Example 2:

Input: pairs = [[1,3],[3,2],[2,1]]
Output: [[1,3],[3,2],[2,1]]
Explanation:
This is a valid arrangement since end_i-1 always equals start_i.
end_0 = 3 == 3 = start_1
end_1 = 2 == 2 = start_2
The arrangements [[2,1],[1,3],[3,2]] and [[3,2],[2,1],[1,3]] are also valid.

Example 3:

Input: pairs = [[1,2],[1,3],[2,1]]
Output: [[1,2],[2,1],[1,3]]
Explanation:
This is a valid arrangement since end_i-1 always equals start_i.
end_0 = 2 == 2 = start_1
end_1 = 1 == 1 = start_2

Constraints:

• 1 <= pairs.length <= 10^5
• pairs[i].length == 2
• 0 <= start_i, end_i <= 10^9
• start_i != end_i
• No two pairs are exactly the same.
• There exists a valid arrangement of pairs.

2024-12-01
1346. Check If N and Its Double Exist

Topic: Array, Hash Table, Two Pointers, Binary Search, Sorting
Difficulty: Easy

Problem:
Given an array arr of integers, check if there exist two indices i and j such that :

• i != j
• 0 <= i, j < arr.length
• arr[i] == 2 * arr[j]

Example 1:

Input: arr = [10,2,5,3]
Output: true
Explanation: For i = 0 and j = 2, arr[i] == 10 == 2 * 5 == 2 * arr[j]

Example 2:

Input: arr = [3,1,7,11]
Output: false
Explanation: There is no i and j that satisfy the conditions.

Constraints:

• 2 <= arr.length <= 500
• -10^3 <= arr[i] <= 10^3

2024-12-02
1455. Check If a Word Occurs As a Prefix of Any Word in a Sentence

Topic: Two Pointers, String, String Matching
Difficulty: Easy

Problem:
Given a sentence that consists of some words separated by a single space, and a searchWord, check if searchWord is a prefix of any word in sentence.

Return the index of the word in sentence (1-indexed) where searchWord is a prefix of this word. If searchWord is a prefix of more than one word, return the index of the first word (minimum index). If there is no such word return -1.

A prefix of a string s is any leading contiguous substring of s.

Example 1:

Input: sentence = "i love eating burger", searchWord = "burg"
Output: 4
Explanation: "burg" is prefix of "burger" which is the 4th word in the sentence.

Example 2:

Input: sentence = "this problem is an easy problem", searchWord = "pro"
Output: 2
Explanation: "pro" is prefix of "problem" which is the 2nd and the 6th word in the sentence, but we return 2 as it's the minimal index.

Example 3:

Input: sentence = "i am tired", searchWord = "you"
Output: -1
Explanation: "you" is not a prefix of any word in the sentence.

Constraints:

• 1 <= sentence.length <= 100
• 1 <= searchWord.length <= 10
• sentence consists of lowercase English letters and spaces.
• searchWord consists of lowercase English letters.

2024-12-03
2109. Adding Spaces to a String

Topic: Array, Two Pointers, String, Simulation
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You are given a 0-indexed string s and a 0-indexed integer array spaces that describes the indices in the original string where spaces will be added. Each space should be inserted before the character at the given index.

• For example, given s = "EnjoyYourCoffee" and spaces = [5, 9], we place spaces before 'Y' and 'C', which are at indices 5 and 9 respectively. Thus, we obtain "Enjoy Your Coffee".

Return the modified string after the spaces have been added.

Example 1:

Input: s = "LeetcodeHelpsMeLearn", spaces = [8,13,15]
Output: "Leetcode Helps Me Learn"
Explanation: 
The indices 8, 13, and 15 correspond to the underlined characters in "LeetcodeHelpsMeLearn".
We then place spaces before those characters.

Example 2:

Input: s = "icodeinpython", spaces = [1,5,7,9]
Output: "i code in py thon"
Explanation:
The indices 1, 5, 7, and 9 correspond to the underlined characters in "icodeinpython".
We then place spaces before those characters.

Example 3:

Input: s = "spacing", spaces = [0,1,2,3,4,5,6]
Output: " s p a c i n g"
Explanation:
We are also able to place spaces before the first character of the string.

Constraints:

• 1 <= s.length <= 3 * 10^5
• s consists only of lowercase and uppercase English letters.
• 1 <= spaces.length <= 3 * 10^5
• 0 <= spaces[i] <= s.length - 1
• All the values of spaces are strictly increasing.

2024-12-04
2825. Make String a Subsequence Using Cyclic Increments

Topic: Two Pointers, String
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You are given two 0-indexed strings str1 and str2.

In an operation, you select a set of indices in str1, and for each index i in the set, increment str1[i] to the next character cyclically. That is 'a' becomes 'b', 'b' becomes 'c', and so on, and 'z' becomes 'a'.

Return true if it is possible to make str2 a subsequence of str1 by performing the operation at most once, and false otherwise.

Note: A subsequence of a string is a new string that is formed from the original string by deleting some (possibly none) of the characters without disturbing the relative positions of the remaining characters.

Example 1:

Input: str1 = "abc", str2 = "ad"
Output: true
Explanation: Select index 2 in str1.
Increment str1[2] to become 'd'. 
Hence, str1 becomes "abd" and str2 is now a subsequence. Therefore, true is returned.

Example 2:

Input: str1 = "zc", str2 = "ad"
Output: true
Explanation: Select indices 0 and 1 in str1. 
Increment str1[0] to become 'a'. 
Increment str1[1] to become 'd'. 
Hence, str1 becomes "ad" and str2 is now a subsequence. Therefore, true is returned.

Example 3:

Input: str1 = "ab", str2 = "d"
Output: false
Explanation: In this example, it can be shown that it is impossible to make str2 a subsequence of str1 using the operation at most once. 
Therefore, false is returned.

Constraints:

• 1 <= str1.length <= 10^5
• 1 <= str2.length <= 10^5
• str1 and str2 consist of only lowercase English letters.

2024-12-05
2337. Move Pieces to Obtain a String

Topic: Two Pointers, String
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You are given two strings start and target, both of length n. Each string consists only of the characters 'L', 'R', and '_' where:

• The characters 'L' and 'R' represent pieces, where a piece 'L' can move to the left only if there is a blank space directly to its left, and a piece 'R' can move to the right only if there is a blank space directly to its right.
• The character '_' represents a blank space that can be occupied by any of the 'L' or 'R' pieces.

Return true if it is possible to obtain the string target by moving the pieces of the string start any number of times. Otherwise, return false.

Example 1:

Input: start = "_L__R__R_", target = "L______RR"
Output: true
Explanation: We can obtain the string target from start by doing the following moves:
- Move the first piece one step to the left, start becomes equal to "L___R__R_".
- Move the last piece one step to the right, start becomes equal to "L___R___R".
- Move the second piece three steps to the right, start becomes equal to "L______RR".
Since it is possible to get the string target from start, we return true.

Example 2:

Input: start = "R_L_", target = "__LR"
Output: false
Explanation: The 'R' piece in the string start can move one step to the right to obtain "_RL_".
After that, no pieces can move anymore, so it is impossible to obtain the string target from start.

Example 3:

Input: start = "_R", target = "R_"
Output: false
Explanation: The piece in the string start can move only to the right, so it is impossible to obtain the string target from start.

Constraints:

• n == start.length == target.length
• 1 <= n <= 10^5
• start and target consist of the characters 'L', 'R', and '_'.

2024-12-06
2554. Maximum Number of Integers to Choose From a Range I

Topic: Array, Hash Table, Binary Search, Greedy, Sorting
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You are given an integer array banned and two integers n and maxSum. You are choosing some number of integers following the below rules:

• The chosen integers have to be in the range [1, n].
• Each integer can be chosen at most once.
• The chosen integers should not be in the array banned.
• The sum of the chosen integers should not exceed maxSum.

Return the maximum number of integers you can choose following the mentioned rules.

Example 1:

Input: banned = [1,6,5], n = 5, maxSum = 6
Output: 2
Explanation: You can choose the integers 2 and 4.
2 and 4 are from the range [1, 5], both did not appear in banned, and their sum is 6, which did not exceed maxSum.

Example 2:

Input: banned = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7], n = 8, maxSum = 1
Output: 0
Explanation: You cannot choose any integer while following the mentioned conditions.

Example 3:

Input: banned = [11], n = 7, maxSum = 50
Output: 7
Explanation: You can choose the integers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
They are from the range [1, 7], all did not appear in banned, and their sum is 28, which did not exceed maxSum.

Constraints:

• 1 <= banned.length <= 10^4
• 1 <= banned[i], n <= 10^4
• 1 <= maxSum <= 10^9