1737. Change Minimum Characters to Satisfy One of Three Conditions
https://leetcode.com/problems/change-minimum-characters-to-satisfy-one-of-three-conditions
Description
You are given two strings a
and b
that consist of lowercase letters. In one operation, you can change any character in a
or b
to any lowercase letter.
Your goal is to satisfy one of the following three conditions:
Every letter in
a
is strictly less than every letter inb
in the alphabet.Every letter in
b
is strictly less than every letter ina
in the alphabet.Both
a
andb
consist of only one distinct letter.
Return the minimum number of operations needed to achieve your goal.
Example 1:
**Input:** a = "aba", b = "caa"
**Output:** 2
**Explanation:** Consider the best way to make each condition true:
1) Change b to "ccc" in 2 operations, then every letter in a is less than every letter in b.
2) Change a to "bbb" and b to "aaa" in 3 operations, then every letter in b is less than every letter in a.
3) Change a to "aaa" and b to "aaa" in 2 operations, then a and b consist of one distinct letter.
The best way was done in 2 operations (either condition 1 or condition 3).
Example 2:
**Input:** a = "dabadd", b = "cda"
**Output:** 3
**Explanation:** The best way is to make condition 1 true by changing b to "eee".
Constraints:
1 <= a.length, b.length <= 105
a
andb
consist only of lowercase letters.
ac
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