#2515
Shortest Distance to Target String in a Circular Array
pupil · 445 · lc easy +26 · verified · 50.6% accepted · 375 likes · top 39%
Description
Given a 0-indexed circular string array words (the end wraps back to the beginning), a target string target, and a startIndex, find the minimum number of single-step moves (forward or backward) to reach any occurrence of target. Return -1 if target is not in words.
Example 1:
Input: words = ["hello","i","am","leetcode","hello"], target = "hello", startIndex = 1
Output: 1
Explanation: We start from index 1 and can reach "hello" by
- moving 3 units to the right to reach index 4.
- moving 2 units to the left to reach index 4.
- moving 4 units to the right to reach index 0.
- moving 1 unit to the left to reach index 0.
The shortest distance to reach "hello" is 1.
Example 2:
Input: words = ["a","b","leetcode"], target = "leetcode", startIndex = 0
Output: 1
Explanation: We start from index 0 and can reach "leetcode" by
- moving 2 units to the right to reach index 2.
- moving 1 unit to the left to reach index 2.
The shortest distance to reach "leetcode" is 1.
Example 3:
Input: words = ["i","eat","leetcode"], target = "ate", startIndex = 0
Output: -1
Explanation: Since "ate" does not exist in words, we return -1.
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