Solution: Find the Difference
Explore how to identify the index of an extra character in one of two strings using bitwise XOR operations. Understand the step-by-step process that leverages XOR properties to isolate the unmatched character efficiently. This lesson guides you through an optimized solution with linear time and constant space complexity, enhancing your ability to solve similar string manipulation problems.
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