Check if one string can be made another by swapping at most once

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Check if one string can be made another by swapping at most once
vinaykhatri

Vinay Khatri
Last updated on March 28, 2024

    Problem

    Given two strings A and B, check if A can be made equal to B by swapping two characters of A at most once.

    Sample Input

    "aba"
    "aab"

    Sample Output

    True

    Explanation

    Swap index 1 with index 2 to get “aab”

    Approach

    We use two indices, can1 and can2 , to store up to two different positions between strings A and B. If there are/is:

    • More than two different locations that are not the same, the answer is False.
    • Two different characters, compare A[can1] vs B[can2] and A[can2] vs B[can1].
    • Only one distinct location, return False.
    • No difference between A and B. See if A has at least one duplicate letter so that we can swap them.

    Complexity Analysis

    The time complexity is O(N), and the space complexity is O(26)

    C++ Programming

    #include <bits/stdc++.h>
    using namespace std;
    
    // function to check if one string can be made equal to another
    bool solve(string A, string B) {
    
            // if size of strings is not same, return False
            if (A.size() != B.size()) return false;
    
            int can1 = -1, can2 = -1;
    
            unordered_set<char> SetA;
    
            for (int i = 0; i < A.size(); i++) {
                if (A[i] != B[i]) {
                    if (can1 == -1)
                        can1 = i;
    
                    else if (can2 == -1)
                        can2 = i;
    
                    else
                        return false; // More than 2 different places between A & B
                }
                SetA.insert(A[i]);
            }
    
            if (can1 != -1 && can2 != -1) // If there are 2 different places
                return A[can1] == B[can2] && A[can2] == B[can1]; 
    
            if (can1 != -1) // Only have 1 different place
                return false;
    
            return SetA.size() < A.size(); // No difference between A & B, check if A contains at least 1 duplicate letter.
        }
    
    int main() {
        string A = "aba";
        string B = "aab";
        if(solve(A, B))
        {
            cout<<"True";
        }
        else
        {
            cout<<"False";
        }
    }

    Output

    True

    Java Programming

    import java.io.*;
    import java.util.*;  
    class Solution {
    
        // function to check if one string can be made equal to another
        public static boolean solve(String A, String B) {
            
            // if size of strings is not same, return False
            if (A.length() != B.length()) return false;
            int can1 = -1, can2 = -1;
            Set<Character> SetA = new HashSet<>();
    
            for (int i = 0; i < A.length(); i++) {
                if (A.charAt(i) != B.charAt(i)) {
                    if (can1 == -1)
                        can1 = i;
                    else if (can2 == -1)
                        can2 = i;
                    else
                        return false; // More than 2 different places between A & B
                }
                SetA.add(A.charAt(i));
            }
    
            if (can1 != -1 && can2 != -1) // There are 2 different places
                return A.charAt(can1) == B.charAt(can2) && A.charAt(can2) == B.charAt(can1);
    
            if (can1 != -1) // Only have 1 different place
                return false;
    
            return SetA.size() < A.length(); // If there is no difference between A & B, check if A contains at least 1 duplicate letters.
        }
    
        public static void main (String[] args) {
            String A = "aba";
            String B = "aab";
    
            System.out.println(solve(A, B));
        }
    }

    Output

    true

    Python Programming

    # function to check if one string can be made equal to another
    def solve(A, B):
        # if size of strings is not same, return False
        if len(A) != len(B): return False
        can1, can2 = -1, -1
        SetA = set()
    
        for i in range(len(A)):
            if A[i] != B[i]:
                if can1 == -1:
                    can1 = i
                elif can2 == -1:
                    can2 = i
                else:
                    return False # More than 2 different places between A & B
            SetA.add(A[i])
    
        if can1 != -1 and can2 != -1: # if there are 2 different places
            return A[can1] == B[can2] and A[can2] == B[can1]
    
        if can1 != -1: # Only have 1 different place
            return False
    
        return len(SetA) < len(A) # No difference between A & B, check if A contains at least 1 duplicate letter
    
    A = "aba"
    B = "aab"
    print(solve(A, B))

    Output

    True

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