Tap here to switch tabs
Problem
Ask
Submissions

Problem: Similar String Groups

hard
40 min
Explore how to identify and group similar strings by understanding the concept of similarity through character swaps. This lesson teaches you to apply the Union Find pattern to effectively solve problems involving connectivity among strings, preparing you to tackle similar coding interview questions.

Statement

Two strings x and y are considered similar if they are either exactly the same or can be made identical by swapping at most two different characters in string x.

We define a similarity group as a set of strings where each string is similar to at least one other string in the group. A string doesn't need to be directly similar to every other string in the group — it just needs to be connected to them through a chain of similarities.

Given a list of strings strs, where each string is an anagram of the others, your task is to determine how many such similarity groups exist in the list.

Constraints:

  • 11 \leq strs.length 300\leq 300

  • 11 \leq strs[i].length 300\leq 300

  • strs[i] consists of lowercase letters only.

  • All words in strs have the same length and are anagrams of each other.

Tap here to switch tabs
Problem
Ask
Submissions

Problem: Similar String Groups

hard
40 min
Explore how to identify and group similar strings by understanding the concept of similarity through character swaps. This lesson teaches you to apply the Union Find pattern to effectively solve problems involving connectivity among strings, preparing you to tackle similar coding interview questions.

Statement

Two strings x and y are considered similar if they are either exactly the same or can be made identical by swapping at most two different characters in string x.

We define a similarity group as a set of strings where each string is similar to at least one other string in the group. A string doesn't need to be directly similar to every other string in the group — it just needs to be connected to them through a chain of similarities.

Given a list of strings strs, where each string is an anagram of the others, your task is to determine how many such similarity groups exist in the list.

Constraints:

  • 11 \leq strs.length 300\leq 300

  • 11 \leq strs[i].length 300\leq 300

  • strs[i] consists of lowercase letters only.

  • All words in strs have the same length and are anagrams of each other.