72. Edit Distance

1. 问题描述
   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

2. 解决思路
   本题可以使用动态规划的方法解决。
   设定dp[i][j]为word1[0,1…i-1]转化成word2[0,1…j-1]的最少操作次数。
   则可以设定初始状态dp[0][j]=j（即word1为空时，转换成word2的步骤，一直insert）
   还可以设定d[i][0]=i (即word2为空时，word1转换成word2的步骤，一直delete)
   而状态转换函数可以由一下规则设定：
   （1） 当word1[i-1] = word2[j-1]时，dp[i][j] = dp[i-1][j-1]
   （2） 当word1[i-1] != word2[j-1]时，存在三种情况：
   A. replace dp[i][j] = dp[i-1][j-1]
   B. delete dp[i][j] = dp[i-1][j] + 1
   C. insert dp[i][j] = dp[i][j-1] + 1
   取这三个值最小的值作为dp[i][j]。

3. 代码

class Solution {
public:
    int minDistance(string word1, string word2) {
        unsigned int n = word1.length();
        unsigned int m = word2.length();
        vector<int> dp(n+1,0);
        for (int i = 0; i <= n; ++i)
            dp[i] = i;
        for (int i = 1; i <= m; ++i) {
            int pre = dp[0];
            dp[0] = i;
            for (int j = 1; j <= n; ++j) {
                int tmp = dp[j];
                if (word2[i-1] == word1[j-1]) {
                    dp[j] = pre;
                } else {
                    dp[j] = min(pre+1,min(dp[j]+1,dp[j-1]+1));
                }
                pre = tmp;
            }
        }
        return dp[n];
    }
};

注：这里可以对空间进行压缩，将空间复杂度O(mn)压缩成O(n)