Minimum Window Substring
Understand how to identify the minimum window substring that contains all characters of a target string using the sliding window pattern. Explore problem constraints and implement solutions handling character frequency while optimizing for substring length.
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Statement
Given two strings, s and t, find the minimum window substring in s, which has the following properties:
-
It is the shortest substring of
sthat includes all of the characters present int. -
It must contain at least the same frequency of each character as in
t. -
The order of the characters does not matter here.
Note: If there are multiple valid minimum window substrings, return any one of them.
Constraints:
-
Strings
sandtconsist of uppercase and lowercase English characters. -
1
s.length,t.length
Examples
Understand the problem
Let’s take a moment to make sure you’ve correctly understood the problem. The quiz below helps you check that you’re solving the correct problem.
Minimum Window Substring
What is the output if the following strings are given as input?
s = “bbaac”
t = “aba”
“bba”
“baa”
“bbaa”
“”
Figure it out!
We have a game for you to play. Rearrange the logical building blocks to develop a clearer understanding of how to solve this problem.
Try it yourself
Implement your solution in the following coding playground:
import java.util.*;public class Main{public static String minWindow(String s, String t) {// Replace this placeholder return statement with your codereturn "";}}