Solution: Similar String Groups
Explore how to solve the problem of grouping similar strings using the Union-Find data structure. Understand the criteria for string similarity, implement efficient checks, and apply union and find operations to count connected similarity groups. This lesson teaches you to analyze string similarities, optimize comparisons, and manage grouping with Union-Find, improving your skills in graph and connectivity algorithms.
We'll cover the following...
Statement
Two strings x and y are considered similar if they are either exactly the same or can be made identical by swapping at most two different characters in string x.
We define a similarity group as a set of strings where each string is similar to at least one other string in the group. A string doesn't need to be directly similar to every other string in the group — it just needs to be connected to them through a chain of similarities.
Given a list of strings strs, where each string is an anagram of the others, your task is to determine how many such similarity groups exist in the list.
Constraints:
strs.lengthstrs[i].lengthstrs[i]consists of lowercase letters ...