72. Edit Distance

Given two words word1 and word2, find the minimum number of steps required to convert word1 to word2. (each operation is counted as 1 step.)

You have the following 3 operations permitted on a word:

a) Insert a character
b) Delete a character

c) Replace a character

动态数组dp[word1.length+1][word2.length+1]

dp[i][j]表示从word1前i个字符转换到word2前j个字符最少的步骤数。

假设word1现在遍历到字符x，word2遍历到字符y（word1当前遍历到的长度为i，word2为j）。

以下两种可能性：

1. x==y，那么不用做任何编辑操作，所以dp[i][j] = dp[i-1][j-1]

2. x != y

   (1) 在word1插入y， 那么dp[i][j] = dp[i][j-1] + 1

   (2) 在word1删除x， 那么dp[i][j] = dp[i-1][j] + 1

   (3) 把word1中的x用y来替换，那么dp[i][j] = dp[i-1][j-1] + 1

 最少的步骤就是取这三个中的最小值。

最后返回 dp[word1.length+1][word2.length+1] 即可。

public class Solution {
    public int minDistance(String word1, String word2) {
        int[][] dp = new int[word1.length()+1][word2.length()+1];
        dp[0][0] = 0;
        for(int i=0; i<=word1.length(); i++){
            dp[i][0] = i;
        }
        for(int i=0; i<=word2.length(); i++){
            dp[0][i] = i;
        }
        for(int i=0; i<word1.length(); i++){
            for(int j=0; j<word2.length();j++){
                if(word1.charAt(i) == word2.charAt(j)){
                    dp[i+1][j+1] = dp[i][j];
                }else{
                    dp[i+1][j+1] = Math.min(Math.min(dp[i][j+1]+1, dp[i+1][j]+1), dp[i][j]+1);
                }
                
            }
        }
        return dp[word1.length()][word2.length()];
    }
}