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EasyArrays & HashingLC 944

Delete Columns to Make Sorted

You are given an array of n strings strs, all of the same length. The strings can be arranged such that there is one on each line, making a grid. For example, strs = [ "abc ", "bce ", "cae "] can be arranged as follows: abc bce cae You want to delete the columns that are not sorted lexicographically. In the above example (0-indexed), columns 0 ('a', 'b', 'c') and 2 ('c', 'e', 'e') are sorted, while column 1 ('b', 'c', 'a') is not, so you would delete column 1. Return the number of columns that you will delete.

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  • 1.Think about which data structure fits best
  • 2.Consider the time complexity of your approach
  • 3.Look for patterns in the constraints
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