Find the Difference
Explore how to find the index of the extra character present in one of two given strings by applying bitwise manipulation. Understand the problem constraints and develop a solution to accurately detect and return the first occurrence of this unique character, enhancing your skills in string processing and bitwise operations.
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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.lengthstr2.length + 1 - The strings consist of lowercase English letters.
Examples
Understand the problem
Let’s take a moment to make sure you’ve correctly understood the problem. The quiz below helps you check if you’re solving the correct problem:
Find the Difference
Find the index of the extra character that is present in only one of the strings.
string 1 = “pqr”
string 2 = “psrq”
0
1
2
3
Figure it out!
We have a game for you to play. Rearrange the logical building blocks to develop a clearer understanding of how to solve this problem.
Try it yourself
Implement your solution in the following coding playground.
package mainfunc extraCharacterIndex(str1 string, str2 string) int{// Replace this placeholder return statement with your codereturn -1}