LeetCode 243. Shortest Word Distance （最短单词距离）$

Given a list of words and two words word1 and word2, return the shortest distance between these two words in the list.

For example,
Assume that words = ["practice", "makes", "perfect", "coding", "makes"].

Given word1 = “coding”, word2 = “practice”, return 3.
Given word1 = "makes", word2 = "coding", return 1.

Note:
You may assume that word1 does not equal to word2, and word1 and word2 are both in the list.

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题目标签：Array

　　题目给了我们一个words array， word1 和word2， 让我们找出word1 和word2 之间最短的距离。words array 里的word 可以重复出现。

　　基本思想是：当找到任何一个word 的时候，记录它的 index， 当两个word 都确定被找到的时候，用它们的index 相减来记录它们之间的距离

Java Solution:

Runtime beats 52.07% 

完成日期：04/27/2017

关键词：Array

关键点：当找到任何一个word 时候，记录它的index；只有当两个word 都被找到的情况下，记录它们的距离

public class Solution 
{
    public int shortestDistance(String[] words, String word1, String word2) 
    {
        int p1 = -1, p2 = -1, min = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
        
        for(int i=0; i<words.length; i++)
        {
            if(words[i].equals(word1)) // if find word1, mark its position
                p1 = i;    
            else if(words[i].equals(word2)) // if find word2, mark its position
                p2 = i;
            
            if(p1 != -1 && p2 != -1) // if find word1 and word2, save the smaller distance
                min = Math.min(min, Math.abs(p1 - p2));
        }
        
        return min;
    }
}

参考资料：

https://discuss.leetcode.com/topic/20668/ac-java-clean-solution

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