Word Ladder

BFS:

class Solution {
public:
    int ladderLength(string start, string end, unordered_set<string> &dict) {
        // Start typing your C/C++ solution below
        // DO NOT write int main() function
        
        if (start==end) return 1;
        int level=1, width1=0, width2=1;
        queue<string> q;
        unordered_set<string> res;
        q.push(start);
        
        while (!q.empty()) {
            string cur=q.front();
            q.pop();
            width2--;
            
            for (int i=0; i<cur.size(); i++) {
                for (int j=0; j<26; j++) {
                    string next=cur;
                    next[i]=j+'a';
                    
                    if (next==end) {
                        return level+1;
                    }
                    if (dict.find(next)!=dict.end() && res.find(next)==res.end()) {
                        res.insert(next);
                        width1++;
                        q.push(next);
                    }
                }                
            }
            if (width2==0) {
                width2=width1;
                width1=0;
                level++;
            }
        }
        return 0;
    }
};