LeetCode-in-Java

1529. Minimum Suffix Flips

Medium

You are given a 0-indexed binary string target of length n. You have another binary string s of length n that is initially set to all zeros. You want to make s equal to target.

In one operation, you can pick an index i where 0 <= i < n and flip all bits in the inclusive range [i, n - 1]. Flip means changing '0' to '1' and '1' to '0'.

Return the minimum number of operations needed to make s equal to target.

Example 1:

Input: target = “10111”

Output: 3

Explanation: Initially, s = “00000”.

Choose index i = 2: “00000” -> “00111”

Choose index i = 0: “00111” -> “11000”

Choose index i = 1: “11000” -> “10111”

We need at least 3 flip operations to form target.

Example 2:

Input: target = “101”

Output: 3

Explanation: Initially, s = “000”.

Choose index i = 0: “000” -> “111”

Choose index i = 1: “111” -> “100”

Choose index i = 2: “100” -> “101”

We need at least 3 flip operations to form target.

Example 3:

Input: target = “00000”

Output: 0

Explanation: We do not need any operations since the initial s already equals target.

Constraints:

Solution

public class Solution {
    public int minFlips(String target) {
        int flipCount = target.charAt(0) - 48;
        char prev = target.charAt(0);
        for (char ch : target.toCharArray()) {
            if (ch != prev) {
                flipCount++;
                prev = ch;
            }
        }
        return flipCount;
    }
}