LeetCode 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

思路分析：经典dp问题，可以定义二维数组dp[word1.length + 1][word2.length + 1], dp[i][j]表示word1前i个字符（i可以为0）到word2前j个字符（j也可以为0）的编辑距离。那么递推方程可以写成dp[i][j]=dp[i-1][j-1] if word1[i-1]=word2[j-1];  dp[i][j]=min{dp[i-1][j-1], dp[i][j-1], dp[i-1][j]} + 1 if word1[i-1]!=word2[j-1]

详细解释可以参考 http://fisherlei.blogspot.com/2012/12/leetcode-edit-distance.html

AC Code

public class Solution {
    public int minDistance(String word1, String word2) {
        int l1 = word1.length();
        int l2 = word2.length();
        int [][] dp = new int[l1+1][l2+1];
        
        for(int i = 0; i <= l1; i++){
            dp[i][0] = i;
        }
        
        for(int j = 0; j <= l2; j++){
            dp[0][j] = j;
        }
        
        for(int i = 1; i <= l1; i++){
            for(int j = 1; j <= l2; j++){
                if(word1.charAt(i - 1) == word2.charAt(j - 1)){
                    dp[i][j] = dp[i-1][j-1];
                } else {
                    dp[i][j] = Math.min(dp[i-1][j], Math.min(dp[i][j-1], dp[i-1][j-1])) + 1;
                }
            }
        }
        return dp[l1][l2];
    }
}