Determine string transform via end-append moves
String Transformation via End-Append Moves
Given two strings, s and t, of equal length and composed solely of lowercase English letters.
In a single move, you may select any character from s, delete it from its current position, and append it to the very end of s.
Your task is to:
- Determine if
scan be transformed intotusing any number of such moves. - If transformation is possible, return the minimum number of moves required.
You must provide:
- An explanation of your algorithm.
- A proof of its correctness.
- An analysis of its time and space complexity.
- Working code implementation in C, C++, Java, or JavaScript.
AI interview prep
Core dilemma
Identifying the characters that *must* be moved versus those that can remain fixed to achieve the target string with minimum operations, given the constraint that fixed characters preserve relative order. This boils down to maximizing the 'fixed' prefix of the target string.
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Determine string transform via end-append moves
String Transformation via End-Append Moves
Given two strings, s and t, of equal length and composed solely of lowercase English letters.
In a single move, you may select any character from s, delete it from its current position, and append it to the very end of s.
Your task is to:
- Determine if
scan be transformed intotusing any number of such moves. - If transformation is possible, return the minimum number of moves required.
You must provide:
- An explanation of your algorithm.
- A proof of its correctness.
- An analysis of its time and space complexity.
- Working code implementation in C, C++, Java, or JavaScript.