Skip to content

127. Word Ladder 👍

  • Time: $O(|\texttt{wordList}| \cdot 26^{\texttt{wordList[i]}})$
  • Space: $O(|\texttt{wordList}|)$
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
class Solution {
 public:
  int ladderLength(string beginWord, string endWord, vector<string>& wordList) {
    unordered_set<string> wordSet(wordList.begin(), wordList.end());
    if (!wordSet.count(endWord))
      return 0;

    int ans = 0;
    queue<string> q{{beginWord}};

    while (!q.empty()) {
      ++ans;
      for (int sz = q.size(); sz > 0; --sz) {
        string word = q.front();
        q.pop();
        for (int i = 0; i < word.length(); ++i) {
          const char cache = word[i];
          for (char c = 'a'; c <= 'z'; ++c) {
            word[i] = c;
            if (word == endWord)
              return ans + 1;
            if (wordSet.count(word)) {
              q.push(word);
              wordSet.erase(word);
            }
          }
          word[i] = cache;
        }
      }
    }

    return 0;
  }
};

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
class Solution {
  public int ladderLength(String beginWord, String endWord, List<String> wordList) {
    Set<String> wordSet = new HashSet<>(wordList);
    if (!wordSet.contains(endWord))
      return 0;

    int ans = 0;
    Queue<String> q = new ArrayDeque<>(Arrays.asList(beginWord));

    while (!q.isEmpty()) {
      ++ans;
      for (int sz = q.size(); sz > 0; --sz) {
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(q.poll());
        for (int i = 0; i < sb.length(); ++i) {
          final char cache = sb.charAt(i);
          for (char c = 'a'; c <= 'z'; ++c) {
            sb.setCharAt(i, c);
            final String word = sb.toString();
            if (word.equals(endWord))
              return ans + 1;
            if (wordSet.contains(word)) {
              q.offer(word);
              wordSet.remove(word);
            }
          }
          sb.setCharAt(i, cache);
        }
      }
    }

    return 0;
  }
}

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
class Solution:
  def ladderLength(self, beginWord: str, endWord: str, wordList: List[str]) -> int:
    wordSet = set(wordList)
    if endWord not in wordSet:
      return 0

    ans = 0
    q = collections.deque([beginWord])

    while q:
      ans += 1
      for _ in range(len(q)):
        wordList = list(q.popleft())
        for i, cache in enumerate(wordList):
          for c in string.ascii_lowercase:
            wordList[i] = c
            word = ''.join(wordList)
            if word == endWord:
              return ans + 1
            if word in wordSet:
              q.append(word)
              wordSet.remove(word)
          wordList[i] = cache

    return 0