Shortest Word Distance — LeetCode 243 Python Solution

The problem

Given an array of strings wordsDict and two different strings that already exist in the array word1 and word2, return the shortest distance between these two words in the list.

Example

Input

wordsDict = ["practice", "makes", "perfect", "coding", "makes"], word1 = "coding", word2 = "practice"

Output

3

Python solution

class Solution:
    def shortestDistance(self, wordsDict: List[str], word1: str, word2: str) -> int:
        i = j = -1
        ans = inf
        for k, w in enumerate(wordsDict):
            if w == word1:
                i = k
            if w == word2:
                j = k
            if i != -1 and j != -1:
                ans = min(ans, abs(i - j))
        return ans

Complexity

Pattern: Hash Map

Trade memory for time: remember what you have seen so the second pass never happens. LeetCode 243. Shortest Word Distance is filed here because the reference solution below belongs to the algorithm family this hub collects, even though its LeetCode tags point elsewhere.

The hash map guide has the Python template for the pattern and the 709 LeetCode problems that use it.

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