Given a string s, return the length of the longest substring strictly between two identical characters, excluding the two characters themselves. If no two identical characters exist in s, return $-1$.

Constraints:

• $1 \leq$ s.length $\leq 300$

• s consists only of lowercase English letters.

Now, 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:

We have a game for you to play. Rearrange the logical building blocks to develop a clearer understanding of how to solve this problem.

Implement your solution in the following coding playground.