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Given a string, find the count of distinct subsequences of it. 

Examples: 

Input: str = “gfg”
Output: 7
Explanation: The seven distinct subsequences are “”, “g”, “f”, “gf”, “fg”, “gg” and “gfg”

Input: str = “ggg”
Output: 4
Explanation: The four distinct subsequences are “”, “g”, “gg” and “ggg”

The problem of counting distinct subsequences is easy if all characters of input string are distinct. The count is equal to nC0 + nC1 + nC2 + … nCn = 2n.
How to count distinct subsequences when there can be repetition in input string? 
A Simple Solution to count distinct subsequences in a string with duplicates is to generate all subsequences. For every subsequence, store it in a hash table if it doesn’t exist already. The time complexity of this solution is exponential and it requires exponential extra space.

Method 1(Naive Approach): Using a set (without Dynamic Programming)

Approach: Generate all the possible subsequences of a given string. The subsequences of a string can be generated in the following manner: 

  1. Include a particular element(say ith) in the output array and recursively call the function for the rest of the input string. This results in the subsequences of a string having ith character. 
  2. Exclude a particular element(say ith) and recursively call the function for the rest of the input string. This contains all the subsequences which don’t have the ith character.
    Once we have generated a subsequence, in the base case of the function we insert that generated subsequence in an unordered set. An unordered Set is a Data structure, that stores distinct elements in an unordered manner. This way we insert all the generated subsequences in the set and print the size of the set as our answer because at last, the set will contain only distinct subsequences. 

Implementation:

C++




// C++ program to print distinct
// subsequences of a given string
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
 
// Create an empty set to store the subsequences
unordered_set<string> sn;
 
// Function for generating the subsequences
void subsequences(char s[], char op[], int i, int j)
{
 
    // Base Case
    if (s[i] == '\0') {
        op[j] = '\0';
 
        // Insert each generated
        // subsequence into the set
        sn.insert(op);
        return;
    }
 
    // Recursive Case
    else {
        // When a particular character is taken
        op[j] = s[i];
        subsequences(s, op, i + 1, j + 1);
 
        // When a particular character isn't taken
        subsequences(s, op, i + 1, j);
        return;
    }
}
 
// Driver Code
int main()
{
    char str[] = "ggg";
    int m = sizeof(str) / sizeof(char);
    int n = pow(2, m) + 1;
 
    // Output array for storing
    // the generating subsequences
    // in each call
    char op[m+1]; //extra one for having \0 at the end
 
    // Function Call
    subsequences(str, op, 0, 0);
 
    // Output will be the number
    // of elements in the set
    cout << sn.size();
    sn.clear();
    return 0;
 
    // This code is contributed by Kishan Mishra
}


Java




// java program to print distinct
// subsequences of a given string
import java.io.*;
import java.lang.Math;
import java.util.*;
 
class GFG {
    // Function for generating the subsequences
    public static void subsequences(Set<String> sn,
                                    char[] s, char[] op,
                                    int i, int j, int n)
    {
        // Base Case
        if (i == n) {
            op[j] = '\0';
 
            // Insert each generated
            // subsequence into the set
            sn.add(String.valueOf(op));
            return;
        }
 
        // Recursive Case
        else {
            // When a particular character is taken
            op[j] = s[i];
            subsequences(sn, s, op, i + 1, j + 1, n);
 
            // When a particular character isn't taken
            subsequences(sn, s, op, i + 1, j, n);
            return;
        }
    }
 
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        char[] str = { 'g', 'g', 'g' };
        int m = str.length;
        int n = (int)Math.pow(2, m) + 1;
 
        // Create an empty set to store the subsequences
        Set<String> sn = new HashSet<String>();
 
        // Output array for storing
        // the generating subsequences
        // in each call
        char[] op = new char[m + 1]; // extra one for having
                                     // \0 at the end
 
        // Function Call
        subsequences(sn, str, op, 0, 0, m);
 
        // Output will be the number
        // of elements in the set
        System.out.println(sn.size());
        sn.clear();
 
        // This code is contributed by Aditya Sharma
    }
}


Python3




# Python3 program to print
# distinct subsequences of
# a given string
import math
 
# Create an empty set
# to store the subsequences
sn = []
global m
m = 0
 
# Function for generating
# the subsequences
 
 
def subsequences(s, op, i, j):
 
    # Base Case
    if(i == m):
        op[j] = None
        temp = "".join([i for i in op if i])
 
        # Insert each generated
        # subsequence into the set
        sn.append(temp)
        return
 
    # Recursive Case
    else:
 
        # When a particular
        # character is taken
        op[j] = s[i]
 
        subsequences(s, op,
                     i + 1, j + 1)
 
        # When a particular
        # character isn't taken
        subsequences(s, op,
                     i + 1, j)
        return
 
 
# Driver Code
str = "ggg"
m = len(str)
n = int(math.pow(2, m) + 1)
 
# Output array for storing
# the generating subsequences
# in each call
op = [None for i in range(n)]
 
# Function Call
subsequences(str, op, 0, 0)
 
# Output will be the number
# of elements in the set
print(len(set(sn)))
 
# This code is contributed by avanitrachhadiya2155


C#




// C# program to print distinct
// subsequences of a given string
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
 
class GFG
{
 
  // Function for generating the subsequences
  public static void subsequences(HashSet<string> sn,
                                  char[] s, char[] op,
                                  int i, int j, int n)
  {
    // Base Case
    if (i == n) {
      op[j] = '\0';
 
      // Insert each generated
      // subsequence into the set
      sn.Add(string.Join("", op));
      return;
    }
 
    // Recursive Case
    else {
      // When a particular character is taken
      op[j] = s[i];
      subsequences(sn, s, op, i + 1, j + 1, n);
 
      // When a particular character isn't taken
      subsequences(sn, s, op, i + 1, j, n);
      return;
    }
  }
 
  public static void Main(string[] args)
  {
    char[] str = { 'g', 'g', 'g' };
    int m = str.Length;
    int n = (int)Math.Pow(2, m) + 1;
 
    // Create an empty set to store the subsequences
    HashSet<string> sn = new HashSet<string>();
 
    // Output array for storing
    // the generating subsequences
    // in each call
    char[] op = new char[m + 1]; // extra one for having
    // \0 at the end
 
    // Function Call
    subsequences(sn, str, op, 0, 0, m);
 
    // Output will be the number
    // of elements in the set
    Console.WriteLine(sn.Count);
 
  }
}
 
// This code is contributed by Abhijeet Kumar(abhijeet19403)


Javascript




<script>
// Javascript program to print distinct
// subsequences of a given string
 
// Create an empty set to store the subsequences
let  sn = new Set();
let m = 0;
 
// Function for generating the subsequences
function subsequences(s, op, i, j)
{
    // Base Case
    if (i == m) {
        op[j] = '\0';
  
        // Insert each generated
        // subsequence into the set
        sn.add(op.join(""));
        return;
    }
  
    // Recursive Case
    else
    {
     
        // When a particular character is taken
        op[j] = s[i];
        subsequences(s, op, i + 1, j + 1);
  
        // When a particular character isn't taken
        subsequences(s, op, i + 1, j);
        return;
    }
}
 
// Driver Code
let str= "ggg";
m = str.length;
let n = Math.pow(2, m) + 1;
 
// Output array for storing
// the generating subsequences
// in each call
let op=new Array(n);
 
// Function Call
subsequences(str, op, 0, 0);
 
// Output will be the number
// of elements in the set
document.write(sn.size);
 
// This code is contributed by patel2127
</script>


Output

4





Time Complexity: O(2^n)
Auxiliary Space: O(2^n)
where n is the length of the string.

Method 2(Efficient Approach): Using Dynamic Programming

An Efficient Solution doesn’t require the generation of subsequences.   

Let countSub(n) be count of subsequences of 
first n characters in input string. We can
recursively write it as below.
countSub(n) = 2*Count(n-1) - Repetition
If current character, i.e., str[n-1] of str has
not appeared before, then
Repetition = 0
Else:
Repetition = Count(m)
Here m is index of previous occurrence of
current character. We basically remove all
counts ending with previous occurrence of
current character.

How does this work? 
If there are no repetitions, then count becomes double of count for n-1 because we get count(n-1) more subsequences by adding current character at the end of all subsequences possible with n-1 length. 
If there are repetitions, then we find a count of all distinct subsequences ending with the previous occurrence. This count can be obtained by recursively calling for an index of the previous occurrence. 
Since the above recurrence has overlapping subproblems, we can solve it using Dynamic Programming. 

Below is the implementation of the above idea.  

C++




// C++ program to count number of distinct
// subsequences of a given string.
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
const int MAX_CHAR = 256;
 
// Returns count of distinct subsequences of str.
int countSub(string str)
{
    // Create an array to store index
    // of last
    vector<int> last(MAX_CHAR, -1);
 
    // Length of input string
    int n = str.length();
 
    // dp[i] is going to store count of distinct
    // subsequences of length i.
    int dp[n + 1];
 
    // Empty substring has only one subsequence
    dp[0] = 1;
 
    // Traverse through all lengths from 1 to n.
    for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
        // Number of subsequences with substring
        // str[0..i-1]
        dp[i] = 2 * dp[i - 1];
 
        // If current character has appeared
        // before, then remove all subsequences
        // ending with previous occurrence.
        if (last[str[i - 1]] != -1)
            dp[i] = dp[i] - dp[last[str[i - 1]]];
 
        // Mark occurrence of current character
        last[str[i - 1]] = (i - 1);
    }
 
    return dp[n];
}
 
// Driver code
int main()
{
    cout << countSub("gfg");
    return 0;
}


Java




// Java program to count number of distinct
// subsequences of a given string.
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
public class Count_Subsequences {
 
    static final int MAX_CHAR = 256;
 
    // Returns count of distinct subsequences of str.
    static int countSub(String str)
    {
        // Create an array to store index
        // of last
        int[] last = new int[MAX_CHAR];
        Arrays.fill(last, -1);
 
        // Length of input string
        int n = str.length();
 
        // dp[i] is going to store count of distinct
        // subsequences of length i.
        int[] dp = new int[n + 1];
 
        // Empty substring has only one subsequence
        dp[0] = 1;
 
        // Traverse through all lengths from 1 to n.
        for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
            // Number of subsequences with substring
            // str[0..i-1]
            dp[i] = 2 * dp[i - 1];
 
            // If current character has appeared
            // before, then remove all subsequences
            // ending with previous occurrence.
            if (last[(int)str.charAt(i - 1)] != -1)
                dp[i] = dp[i] - dp[last[(int)str.charAt(i - 1)]];
 
            // Mark occurrence of current character
            last[(int)str.charAt(i - 1)] = (i - 1);
        }
 
        return dp[n];
    }
 
    // Driver code
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        System.out.println(countSub("gfg"));
    }
}
// This code is contributed by Sumit Ghosh


Python3




# Python3 program to count number of
# distinct subsequences of a given string
 
MAX_CHAR = 256
 
def countSub(ss):
 
    # create an array to store index of last
    last = [-1 for i in range(MAX_CHAR + 1)]
     
    # length of input string
    n = len(ss)
     
    # dp[i] is going to store count of
    # discount subsequence of length of i
    dp = [-2 for i in range(n + 1)]
      
    # empty substring has only
    # one subsequence
    dp[0] = 1
     
    # Traverse through all lengths
    # from 1 to n
    for i in range(1, n + 1):
         
        # number of subsequence with
        # substring str[0...i-1]
        dp[i] = 2 * dp[i - 1]
 
        # if current character has appeared
        # before, then remove all subsequences
        # ending with previous occurrence.
        if last[ord(ss[i - 1])] != -1:
            dp[i] = dp[i] - dp[last[ord(ss[i - 1])]]
        last[ord(ss[i - 1])] = i - 1
     
    return dp[n]
     
# Driver code
print(countSub("gfg"))
 
# This code is contributed
# by mohit kumar 29


C#




// C# program to count number of distinct
// subsequences of a given string.
using System;
 
public class Count_Subsequences {
 
    static readonly int MAX_CHAR = 256;
 
    // Returns count of distinct subsequences of str.
    static int countSub(String str)
    {
        // Create an array to store index
        // of last
        int[] last = new int[MAX_CHAR];
 
        for (int i = 0; i < MAX_CHAR; i++)
            last[i] = -1;
 
        // Length of input string
        int n = str.Length;
 
        // dp[i] is going to store count of
        // distinct subsequences of length i.
        int[] dp = new int[n + 1];
 
        // Empty substring has only one subsequence
        dp[0] = 1;
 
        // Traverse through all lengths from 1 to n.
        for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
            // Number of subsequences with substring
            // str[0..i-1]
            dp[i] = 2 * dp[i - 1];
 
            // If current character has appeared
            // before, then remove all subsequences
            // ending with previous occurrence.
            if (last[(int)str[i - 1]] != -1)
                dp[i] = dp[i] - dp[last[(int)str[i - 1]]];
 
            // Mark occurrence of current character
            last[(int)str[i - 1]] = (i - 1);
        }
        return dp[n];
    }
 
    // Driver code
    public static void Main(String[] args)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(countSub("gfg"));
    }
}
 
// This code is contributed 29AjayKumar


Javascript




<script>
 
// Javascript program to count number of
// distinct subsequences of a given string.
let MAX_CHAR = 256;
 
// Returns count of distinct subsequences
// of str.
function countSub(str)
{
     
    // Create an array to store index
    // of last
    let last = new Array(MAX_CHAR);
    last.fill(-1);
 
    // Length of input string
    let n = str.length;
 
    // dp[i] is going to store count of distinct
    // subsequences of length i.
    let dp = new Array(n + 1);
 
    // Empty substring has only one subsequence
    dp[0] = 1;
 
    // Traverse through all lengths from 1 to n.
    for(let i = 1; i <= n; i++)
    {
         
        // Number of subsequences with substring
        // str[0..i-1]
        dp[i] = 2 * dp[i - 1];
 
        // If current character has appeared
        // before, then remove all subsequences
        // ending with previous occurrence.
        if (last[str[i - 1].charCodeAt()] != -1)
            dp[i] = dp[i] - dp[last[str[i - 1].charCodeAt()]];
 
        // Mark occurrence of current character
        last[str[i - 1].charCodeAt()] = (i - 1);
    }
    return dp[n];
}
 
// Driver code
document.write(countSub("gfg"));
 
// This code is contributed by mukesh07
 
</script>


Output

7





Time Complexity: O(n) 
Auxiliary Space: O(n) 

Method 3: Using Map

Idea:

Let’s say we have 2 variables : `allCount` which adds up total distinct subsequence count and `levelCount` which stores the count of subsequences ending at index i. To find repetitions we will store the most recent levelCount for each character. Finally we will see how we can determine `allCount` using the `levelCount` variable.

Below is the steps to solve the problem:

  • Declare a map .
  • Start a loop to iterate through the characters of the input string s.
  • Inside the loop, when i (the current index) is 0, this is the first character in the string.
    • Set allCount to 1 since the first character is always unique.
    • Update the map mp with the index 1 for the first character c.
  • For characters at positions other than 0:
    • Calculate the current levelCount as allCount + 1, representing the number of unique substrings at the current level.
    • If char c is not present in map, it means the character is new (has not been seen before in this substring). In this case:
    • Increment allCount by levelCount to account for the new character.
    • If char c is present in map, it means the character has been seen before in this substring. In this case:
    • Adjust allCount by adding levelCount – mp to account for the fact that some substrings may have been counted already.
  • Update the map mp with the current levelCount for the character c since this is the latest level of uniqueness.

C++




#include <iostream>
#include <map>
using namespace std;
 
int countSub(string s) {
    map<char, int> mp;
 
    int n = s.size();
    int allCount = 0, levelCount = 0;
 
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        char c = s[i];
 
        if (i == 0) {
            allCount = levelCount = 1;
            mp = 1; // Initialize the map with the first character
            continue;
        }
 
        levelCount = allCount + 1;
 
        if (mp.find(c) == mp.end()) {
            allCount += levelCount;
        } else {
            allCount += levelCount - mp;
        }
        mp = levelCount; // Update the count for the current character
    }
 
    return allCount;
}
 
int main() {
    string list[] = {"abab", "gfg"};
 
    for (string s : list) {
        int cnt = countSub(s);
        int withEmptyString = cnt + 1;
 
        cout << "With empty string count for " << s << " is " << withEmptyString << endl;
        cout << "Without empty string count for " << s << " is " << cnt << endl;
    }
    return 0;
}


Java




// Java Program for above approach
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
class SubsequenceCount
{
 
  // Returns count of distinct
  // subsequences of str.
  public static int countSub(String s)
  {
    HashMap<Character,
             Integer> map = new HashMap<Character,
                                        Integer>();
 
    // Iterate from 0 to s.length()
    for(int i = 0; i < s.length(); i++)
    {
      map.put(s.charAt(i), -1);
    }
     
    int allCount = 0;
    int levelCount = 0;
     
    // Iterate from 0 to s.length()
    for(int i=0;i<s.length();i++)
    {
      char c = s.charAt(i);
       
      // Check if i equal to 0
      if(i==0)
      {
        allCount = 1;
        map.put(c,1);
        levelCount = 1;
        continue;
      }
       
      // Replace levelCount with
      // allCount + 1
      levelCount = allCount + 1;
       
      // If map is less than 0
      if(map.get(c)<0)
      {
        allCount = allCount + levelCount;
      }
      else
      {
        allCount = allCount + levelCount - map.get(c);
      }
      map.put(c,levelCount);
    }
     
    // Return answer
    return allCount;
 
  }
   
  // Driver Code
  public static void main(String[] args)
  {
    List<String> list = Arrays.asList("abab","gfg");
     
    for(String s : list)
    {
      int cnt = countSub(s);
      int withEmptyString = cnt+1;
      System.out.println("With empty string count for " +
                         s +" is " + withEmptyString);
      System.out.println("Without empty string count for " +
                         s + " is " + cnt);
    }
  }
}
//Code is contributed by abhisht7


Python3




def count_sub(s):
    mp = {}
 
    n = len(s)
    all_count = level_count = 0
 
    for i in range(n):
        c = s[i]
 
        if i == 0:
            all_count = mp = level_count = 1
            continue
 
        level_count = all_count + 1
 
        if c not in mp:
            all_count += level_count
        else:
            all_count += level_count - mp
        mp = level_count
 
    return all_count
 
if __name__ == "__main__":
    strings = ["abab", "gfg"]
 
    for s in strings:
        cnt = count_sub(s)
        with_empty_string = cnt + 1
 
        print(f"With empty string count for {s} is {with_empty_string}")
        print(f"Without empty string count for {s} is {cnt}")


C#




using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
 
class GFG
{
    // Returns count of distinct subsequences of str.
    public static int countSub(string s)
    {
        Dictionary<char, int> map = new Dictionary<char, int>();
 
        // Iterate from 0 to s.length()
        for (int i = 0; i < s.Length; i++)
        {
            if (!map.ContainsKey(s[i]))
            {
                map.Add(s[i], -1);
            }
        }
 
        int allCount = 0;
        int levelCount = 0;
 
        // Iterate from 0 to s.length()
        for (int i = 0; i < s.Length; i++)
        {
            char c = s[i];
 
            // Check if i equal to 0
            if (i == 0)
            {
                allCount = 1;
                if (!map.ContainsKey(c))
                {
                    map.Add(c, 1);
                }
                else
                {
                    map = 1;
                }
                levelCount = 1;
                continue;
            }
 
            // Replace levelCount with allCount + 1
            levelCount = allCount + 1;
 
            // If map is less than 0
            if (map < 0)
            {
                allCount = (allCount + levelCount);
            }
            else
            {
                allCount = (allCount + levelCount - map);
            }
 
            if (!map.ContainsKey(c))
            {
                map.Add(c, levelCount);
            }
            else
            {
                map = levelCount;
            }
        }
 
        // Return answer
        return allCount;
    }
 
    // Driver Code
    static void Main()
    {
        List<string> list = new List<string>();
        list.Add("abab");
        list.Add("gfg");
 
        foreach (string s in list)
        {
            int cnt = countSub(s);
            int withEmptyString = cnt + 1;
 
            Console.WriteLine("With empty string count for " +
                                s + " is " + withEmptyString);
            Console.WriteLine("Without empty string count for " +
                                s + " is " + cnt);
        }
    }
}


Javascript




// Javascript Program for above approach
     
    // Returns count of distinct
  // subsequences of str.
    function countSub(s)
    {
        let map = new Map();
        // Iterate from 0 to s.length()
    for(let i = 0; i < s.length; i++)
    {
      map.set(s[i], -1);
    }
      
    let allCount = 0;
    let levelCount = 0;
      
    // Iterate from 0 to s.length()
    for(let i=0;i<s.length;i++)
    {
      let c = s[i];
        
      // Check if i equal to 0
      if(i==0)
      {
        allCount = 1;
        map.set(c,1);
        levelCount = 1;
        continue;
      }
        
      // Replace levelCount with
      // allCount + 1
      levelCount = allCount + 1;
        
      // If map is less than 0
      if(map.get(c)<0)
      {
        allCount = allCount + levelCount;
      }
      else
      {
        allCount = allCount + levelCount - map.get(c);
      }
      map.set(c,levelCount);
    }
      
    // Return answer
    return allCount;
    }
     
     
    // Driver Code
    let list=["abab","gfg"];
     
    for(let i=0;i<list.length;i++)
    {
        let cnt = countSub(list[i]);
        let withEmptyString = cnt+1;
        console.log("With empty string count for " +
                         list[i] +" is " + withEmptyString);
         
        console.log("Without empty string count for " +
                         list[i] + " is " + cnt);
    }
     
     
    // This code is contributed by unknown2108


Output

With empty string count for abab is 12
Without empty string count for abab is 11
With empty string count for gfg is 7
Without empty string count for gfg is 6





Time Complexity: O(n)
Space Complexity: O(1)



Last Updated : 29 Dec, 2023
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