Solution: Find the Difference
Explore how to identify the extra character between two strings by applying bitwise XOR manipulation. Understand the step-by-step approach to isolate the unique character efficiently, and learn to implement a solution with linear time complexity and constant space usage that solves the problem with clarity.
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