Solution: Find the Difference
Explore how to find the index of an extra character in one string compared to another by using a bitwise XOR operation. Learn to implement a solution that efficiently isolates the extra character with linear time complexity and constant space. This lesson helps you understand and apply bitwise manipulation techniques to solve string comparison problems commonly encountered in coding interviews.
Statement
Given two strings, str1 and str2, find the index of the extra character that is present in only one of the strings.
Note: If multiple instances of the extra character exist, return the index of the first occurrence of the character in the longer string.
Constraints:
-
str1.length,str2.length - Either
str2.lengthstr1.length + 1, or,str1.length