#820
Short Encoding of Words
medium · verified · 60.8% accepted · 1,783 likes · top 60%
array · hash table · string · trie
Description
A valid encoding of an array of words is any reference string s and array of indices indices such that:
- words.length == indices.length
- The reference string s ends with the '#' character.
- For each index indices[i], the substring of s starting from indices[i] and up to (but not including) the next '#' character is equal to words[i].
Given an array of words, return the length of the shortest reference string s possible of any valid encoding of words.
Example 1:
Input: words = ["time", "me", "bell"]
Output: 10
Explanation: A valid encoding would be s = "time#bell#" and indices = [0, 2, 5].
words[0] = "time", the substring of s starting from indices[0] = 0 to the next '#' is underlined in "time#bell#"
words[1] = "me", the substring of s starting from indices[1] = 2 to the next '#' is underlined in "time#bell#"
words[2] = "bell", the substring of s starting from indices[2] = 5 to the next '#' is underlined in "time#bell#"
Example 2:
Input: words = ["t"]
Output: 2
Explanation: A valid encoding would be s = "t#" and indices = [0].
Solution