leetcode

commit 06355bf91a27fdec5548fed0f92083a447fcee35
parent 7d4c4eb05eb2ff3fd292b8afff686516f301ca7f
Author: Jack Sangdahl <jack@pngu.org>
Date:   Tue, 14 Apr 2026 19:50:27 -0600

2515. shortest distance to target string in a circular array

Diffstat:
A
shortest_dist_target_str.c
 | 
36
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A
shortest_dist_target_str.py
 | 
40
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

2 files changed, 76 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
diff --git a/shortest_dist_target_str.c b/shortest_dist_target_str.c
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+// 2515. Shortest Distance to Target String in a Circular Array
+#include "leetcode.h"
+
+/*
+ * you are given a 0-indexed circular string array 'words' and a string
+ * 'target'. a circular array means that the array's end connects to the array's
+ * beginning. starting from 'startIndex', you can move to either the next word
+ * or the previous word with 1 step at a time. return the shortest distance
+ * needed to reach the string 'target'. if the string 'target' does not exist in
+ * 'words', return -1.
+ */
+
+int closestTarget(char **words, int wordsSize, char *target, int startIndex) {
+  int ans = wordsSize, n = wordsSize;
+  for (int i = 0; i < wordsSize; i++)
+    if (!strcmp(words[i], target)) {
+      int dist = abs(i - startIndex);
+      ans = fmin(ans, fmin(dist, n - dist));
+    }
+  return ans < n ? ans : -1;
+}
+
+int main() {
+  char *w1[] = {"hello", "i", "am", "leetcode", "hello"}, *t1 = "hello";
+  char *w2[] = {"a", "b", "leetcode"}, *t2 = "leetcode";
+  char *w3[] = {"i", "eat", "leetcode"}, *t3 = "ate";
+  int r1 = closestTarget(w1, ARRAY_SIZE(w1), t1, 1);
+  int r2 = closestTarget(w2, ARRAY_SIZE(w2), t2, 0);
+  int r3 = closestTarget(w3, ARRAY_SIZE(w3), t3, 0);
+  printf("%d\n", r1);
+  assert(r1 == 1);
+  printf("%d\n", r2);
+  assert(r2 == 1);
+  printf("%d\n", r3);
+  assert(r3 == -1);
+}
diff --git a/shortest_dist_target_str.py b/shortest_dist_target_str.py
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+# 2515. Shortest Distance to Target String in a Circular Array
+
+"""
+you are given a 0-indexed circular string array 'words' and a string
+'target'. a circular array means that the array's end connects to the array's
+beginning. starting from 'startIndex', you can move to either the next word
+or the previous word with 1 step at a time. return the shortest distance
+needed to reach the string 'target'. if the string 'target' does not exist in
+'words', return -1.
+"""
+
+
+class Solution(object):
+    def closestTarget(self, words, target, startIndex):
+        """
+        :type words: List[str]
+        :type target: str
+        :type startIndex: int
+        :rtype: int
+        """
+        ans, n = len(words), len(words)
+        for i, j in enumerate(words):
+            if j == target:
+                ans = min(ans, abs(i - startIndex), n - abs(i - startIndex))
+        return ans if ans < n else -1
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    obj = Solution()
+    print(
+        obj.closestTarget(
+            words=["hello", "i", "am", "leetcode", "hello"],
+            target="hello",
+            startIndex=1,
+        )
+    )
+    print(
+        obj.closestTarget(words=["a", "b", "leetcode"], target="leetcode", startIndex=0)
+    )
+    print(obj.closestTarget(words=["i", "eat", "leetcode"], target="ate", startIndex=0))