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Minimum operations required to make the string satisfy the given condition

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Given a string str, the task is to make the string start and end at the same character with the minimum number of given operations. In a single operation, any character of the string can be removed. Note that the length of the resultant string must be greater than 1 and it is not possible then print -1.

Examples: 

Input: str = “geeksforgeeks” 
Output:
Remove the first and the last two characters 
and the string becomes “eeksforgee”

Input: str = “abcda” 
Output:

Approach: If the string needs to start and end at a character say ch then an optimal way is to remove all the characters before the first occurrence of ch and all the characters after the last occurrence of ch. Find the number of characters that need to be removed for every possible value of ch starting from ‘a’ to ‘z’ and choose the one with the minimum number of delete operations.

Below is the implementation of the above approach: 

C++




// C++ implementation of the approach
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
 
const int MAX = 26;
 
// Function to return the minimum
// operations required
int minOperation(string str, int len)
{
 
    // To store the first and the last
    // occurrence of all the characters
    int first[MAX], last[MAX];
 
    // Set the first and the last occurrence
    // of all the characters to -1
    for (int i = 0; i < MAX; i++) {
        first[i] = -1;
        last[i] = -1;
    }
 
    // Update the occurrences of the characters
    for (int i = 0; i < len; i++) {
 
        int index = (str[i] - 'a');
 
        // Only set the first occurrence if
        // it hasn't already been set
        if (first[index] == -1)
            first[index] = i;
 
        last[index] = i;
    }
 
    // To store the minimum operations
    int minOp = -1;
 
    for (int i = 0; i < MAX; i++) {
 
        // If the frequency of the current
        // character in the string
        // is less than 2
        if (first[i] == -1 || first[i] == last[i])
            continue;
 
        // Count of characters to be
        // removed so that the string
        // starts and ends at the
        // current character
        int cnt = len - (last[i] - first[i] + 1);
 
        if (minOp == -1 || cnt < minOp)
            minOp = cnt;
    }
 
    return minOp;
}
 
// Driver code
int main()
{
    string str = "abcda";
    int len = str.length();
 
    cout << minOperation(str, len);
 
    return 0;
}


Java




// Java implementation of the approach
class GFG
{
    final static int MAX = 26;
     
    // Function to return the minimum
    // operations required
    static int minOperation(String str, int len)
    {
     
        // To store the first and the last
        // occurrence of all the characters
        int first[] = new int[MAX];
        int last[] = new int[MAX];
     
        // Set the first and the last occurrence
        // of all the characters to -1
        for (int i = 0; i < MAX; i++)
        {
            first[i] = -1;
            last[i] = -1;
        }
     
        // Update the occurrences of the characters
        for (int i = 0; i < len; i++)
        {
            int index = (str.charAt(i) - 'a');
     
            // Only set the first occurrence if
            // it hasn't already been set
            if (first[index] == -1)
                first[index] = i;
     
            last[index] = i;
        }
     
        // To store the minimum operations
        int minOp = -1;
     
        for (int i = 0; i < MAX; i++)
        {
     
            // If the frequency of the current
            // character in the string
            // is less than 2
            if (first[i] == -1 ||
                first[i] == last[i])
                continue;
     
            // Count of characters to be
            // removed so that the string
            // starts and ends at the
            // current character
            int cnt = len - (last[i] - first[i] + 1);
     
            if (minOp == -1 || cnt < minOp)
                minOp = cnt;
        }
        return minOp;
    }
     
    // Driver code
    public static void main (String[] args)
    {
        String str = "abcda";
        int len = str.length();
     
        System.out.println(minOperation(str, len));
    }
}
 
// This code is contributed by AnkitRai01


Python3




# Python implementation of the approach
MAX = 26;
 
# Function to return the minimum
# operations required
def minOperation(str, len):
 
    # To store the first and the last
    # occurrence of all the characters
    first, last = [0] * MAX, [0] * MAX;
 
    # Set the first and the last occurrence
    # of all the characters to -1
    for i in range(MAX):
        first[i] = -1;
        last[i] = -1;
 
    # Update the occurrences of the characters
    for i in range(len):
 
        index = (ord(str[i]) - ord('a'));
 
        # Only set the first occurrence if
        # it hasn't already been set
        if (first[index] == -1):
            first[index] = i;
 
        last[index] = i;
 
    # To store the minimum operations
    minOp = -1;
 
    for i in range(MAX):
 
        # If the frequency of the current
        # character in the string
        # is less than 2
        if (first[i] == -1 or first[i] == last[i]):
            continue;
 
        # Count of characters to be
        # removed so that the string
        # starts and ends at the
        # current character
        cnt = len - (last[i] - first[i] + 1);
 
        if (minOp == -1 or cnt < minOp):
            minOp = cnt;
    return minOp;
 
# Driver code
str = "abcda";
len = len(str);
 
print( minOperation(str, len));
 
# This code is contributed by 29AjayKumar


C#




// C# implementation of the approach
using System;
     
class GFG
{
    readonly static int MAX = 26;
     
    // Function to return the minimum
    // operations required
    static int minOperation(String str, int len)
    {
     
        // To store the first and the last
        // occurrence of all the characters
        int []first = new int[MAX];
        int []last = new int[MAX];
     
        // Set the first and the last occurrence
        // of all the characters to -1
        for (int i = 0; i < MAX; i++)
        {
            first[i] = -1;
            last[i] = -1;
        }
     
        // Update the occurrences of the characters
        for (int i = 0; i < len; i++)
        {
            int index = (str[i] - 'a');
     
            // Only set the first occurrence if
            // it hasn't already been set
            if (first[index] == -1)
                first[index] = i;
     
            last[index] = i;
        }
     
        // To store the minimum operations
        int minOp = -1;
     
        for (int i = 0; i < MAX; i++)
        {
     
            // If the frequency of the current
            // character in the string
            // is less than 2
            if (first[i] == -1 ||
                first[i] == last[i])
                continue;
     
            // Count of characters to be
            // removed so that the string
            // starts and ends at the
            // current character
            int cnt = len - (last[i] - first[i] + 1);
     
            if (minOp == -1 || cnt < minOp)
                minOp = cnt;
        }
        return minOp;
    }
     
    // Driver code
    public static void Main (String[] args)
    {
        String str = "abcda";
        int len = str.Length;
     
        Console.WriteLine(minOperation(str, len));
    }
}
 
// This code is contributed by 29AjayKumar


Javascript




<script>
 
// Javascript implementation of the approach
 
var MAX = 26;
 
// Function to return the minimum
// operations required
function minOperation(str, len)
{
 
    // To store the first and the last
    // occurrence of all the characters
    var first = Array(MAX).fill(-1);
    var last = Array(MAX).fill(-1);
 
    // Update the occurrences of the characters
    for (var i = 0; i < len; i++) {
 
        var index = (str[i].charCodeAt(0) - 'a'.charCodeAt(0));
 
        // Only set the first occurrence if
        // it hasn't already been set
        if (first[index] == -1)
            first[index] = i;
 
        last[index] = i;
    }
 
    // To store the minimum operations
    var minOp = -1;
 
    for (var i = 0; i < MAX; i++) {
 
        // If the frequency of the current
        // character in the string
        // is less than 2
        if (first[i] == -1 || first[i] == last[i])
            continue;
 
        // Count of characters to be
        // removed so that the string
        // starts and ends at the
        // current character
        var cnt = len - (last[i] - first[i] + 1);
 
        if (minOp == -1 || cnt < minOp)
            minOp = cnt;
    }
 
    return minOp;
}
 
// Driver code
var str = "abcda";
var len = str.length;
document.write( minOperation(str, len));
 
</script>


Output: 

0

 

Time Complexity: O(len), where len is length of string.
Auxiliary Space : O(1)



Last Updated : 09 Jan, 2023
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