Minimum cost to convert a string to another by replacing blanks

Last Updated : 15 Feb, 2022

Given two strings s1 and s2 with lower-case alphabets having length N. The strings s1 and s2 initially may contain some blanks, the task is to find minimum operations to convert a string s1 to s2.

Initially, if there are any blanks they should be replaced by any same character which cost 0 and
Any vowel in the string can be replaced by any consonant and any consonant can be replaced by any vowel which costs 1.

Examples:

Input: s1 = "g_e_s", s2 = "ge_ks"
Output: 1
Explanation: Replacing blanks with 'e', the strings become s1= "geees", s2 = "geeks"
In the 3rd index of s1 convert e -> k which costs only 1 operation.

Input: s1 = "abcd", s2 = "aeca"
Output: 2

Approach: Since there are only 26 lower case characters if there are blanks in the strings the blanks can be replaced by each of these characters and minimum cost can be counted to convert string s1 to s2. If both the characters of the string one is a vowel and the other is consonant or vice versa it costs only one unit to transform one character. If both the characters are vowels or consonants and are not equal then it bears cost of 2; consonant -> vowel -> consonant (cost = 2) or vowel -> consonant -> vowel (cost = 2).
Follow these steps to solve the above problem:

If both the lengths of the strings are not equal return -1.
Initialize n with the length and res as INT_MAX.
Now iterate through each of the 26 characters.
Initialize the variable ops = 0 to store the costs required.
Traverse from the range [0, n) and check if there is a blank in any of the strings.
If there is a blank initialize the chars c1 and c2 to store the modified characters.
If both the chars c1 == c2 (the character after replacing the blank) no operations are required.
Else if both are vowels or consonants it requires 2 operations else it requires only 1 operation add it to the ops variable.
After the traversal store the minimum operations in the res (min(ops, res)).
Print the result res.

Below is the implementation of the above approach:

C++

// C++ program for the above approach
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;

// Function to check whether
// a character is vowel or not
bool isVowel(char c)
{
    return (c == 'a' || c == 'e' || c == 'i'
            || c == 'o' || c == 'u');
}

// Function to calculate minimum cost
void minCost(string s1, string s2)
{
    // If both the lengths are not equal
    if (s1.length() != s2.length()) {
        cout << -1 << endl;
        return;
    }

    int n = s1.length();

    // Initialize res with max value
    int res = INT_MAX;

    // Iterate through every character
    // and check the minimum cost by
    // replacing the blank by all letters
    for (char c = 'a'; c <= 'z'; c++) {

        // Initialize ops to check
        // the cost required by replacing
        // each char c
        int ops = 0;
        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {

            // If it is blank replace with c
            char c1 = s1[i] == '_' ? c : s1[i];
            char c2 = s2[i] == '_' ? c : s2[i];

            // If both are equal no ops required
            if (c1 == c2)
                continue;
            else {

                // If both are vowels or  consonants
                // it requires cost as two
                // vowel->consonant ->vowel
                // and vice versa
                // Else 1 operation
                ops
                    = ops
                      + (isVowel(s1[i]) != isVowel(s2[i])
                             ? 2
                             : 1);
            }
        }

        // Take the minimum
        if (ops < res) {
            res = ops;
        }
    }

    // Print the result
    cout << res << endl;
}

// Driver code
int main()
{
    // Initialize the strings
    string s1 = "g_e_s", s2 = "ge_ks";

    // Function call
    minCost(s1, s2);

    return 0;
}

Java

// Java program for the above approach
import java.util.*;
public class GFG
{
  
  // Function to check whether
  // a character is vowel or not
  static boolean isVowel(char c)
  {
    return (c == 'a' || c == 'e' || c == 'i'
            || c == 'o' || c == 'u');
  }

  // Function to calculate minimum cost
  static void minCost(String s1, String s2)
  {
    
    // If both the lengths are not equal
    if (s1.length() != s2.length()) {
      System.out.println(-1);
      return;
    }

    int n = s1.length();

    // Initialize res with max value
    int res = Integer.MAX_VALUE;

    // Iterate through every character
    // and check the minimum cost by
    // replacing the blank by all letters
    for (char c = 'a'; c <= 'z'; c++) {

      // Initialize ops to check
      // the cost required by replacing
      // each char c
      int ops = 0;
      for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {

        // If it is blank replace with c
        char c1 = s1.charAt(i) == '_' ? c : s1.charAt(i);
        char c2 = s2.charAt(i) == '_' ? c : s2.charAt(i);

        // If both are equal no ops required
        if (c1 == c2)
          continue;
        else {

          // If both are vowels or  consonants
          // it requires cost as two
          // vowel->consonant ->vowel
          // and vice versa
          // Else 1 operation
          ops
            = ops
            + (isVowel(s1.charAt(i)) != isVowel(s2.charAt(i))
               ? 2
               : 1);
        }
      }

      // Take the minimum
      if (ops < res) {
        res = ops;
      }
    }

    // Print the result
   System.out.println(res);
  }

  // Driver code
  public static void main(String args[])
  {
    
    // Initialize the strings
    String s1 = "g_e_s", s2 = "ge_ks";

    // Function call
    minCost(s1, s2);
  }
}

// This code is contributed by Samim Hossain Mondal.

Python3

# Python 3 program for the above approach
import sys

# Function to check whether
# a character is vowel or not
def isVowel(c):

    return (c == 'a' or c == 'e' or c == 'i'
            or c == 'o' or c == 'u')

# Function to calculate minimum cost
def minCost(s1,  s2):

    # If both the lengths are not equal
    if (len(s1) != len(s2)):
        print(-1)
        return

    n = len(s1)

    # Initialize res with max value
    res = sys.maxsize

    # Iterate through every character
    # and check the minimum cost by
    # replacing the blank by all letters

    for c in range(ord('a'), ord('z')+1):

        # Initialize ops to check
        # the cost required by replacing
        # each char c
        ops = 0
        for i in range(n):

            # If it is blank replace with c
            if s1[i] == '_':
                c1 = chr(c)
            else:
                c1 = s1[i]
            if s2[i] == '_':
                c2 = chr(c)
            else:
                c2 = s2[i]

            # If both are equal no ops required
            if (c1 == c2):
                continue
            else:

                # If both are vowels or  consonants
                # it requires cost as two
                # vowel->consonant ->vowel
                # and vice versa
                # Else 1 operation

                if isVowel(s1[i]) != isVowel(s2[i]):
                    ops += 2
                else:
                    ops += 1

        # Take the minimum
        if (ops < res):
            res = ops

    # Print the result
    print(res)

# Driver code
if __name__ == "__main__":

    # Initialize the strings
    s1 = "g_e_s"
    s2 = "ge_ks"

    # Function call
    minCost(s1, s2)

    # This code is contributed by ukasp.

// C# program for the above approach
using System;
class GFG
{
  
  // Function to check whether
  // a character is vowel or not
  static bool isVowel(char c)
  {
    return (c == 'a' || c == 'e' || c == 'i'
            || c == 'o' || c == 'u');
  }

  // Function to calculate minimum cost
  static void minCost(string s1, string s2)
  {
    
    // If both the lengths are not equal
    if (s1.Length != s2.Length) {
      Console.WriteLine(-1);
      return;
    }

    int n = s1.Length;

    // Initialize res with max value
    int res = Int32.MaxValue;

    // Iterate through every character
    // and check the minimum cost by
    // replacing the blank by all letters
    for (char c = 'a'; c <= 'z'; c++) {

      // Initialize ops to check
      // the cost required by replacing
      // each char c
      int ops = 0;
      for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {

        // If it is blank replace with c
        char c1 = s1[i] == '_' ? c : s1[i];
        char c2 = s2[i] == '_' ? c : s2[i];

        // If both are equal no ops required
        if (c1 == c2)
          continue;
        else {

          // If both are vowels or  consonants
          // it requires cost as two
          // vowel->consonant ->vowel
          // and vice versa
          // Else 1 operation
          ops
            = ops
            + (isVowel(s1[i]) != isVowel(s2[i])
               ? 2
               : 1);
        }
      }

      // Take the minimum
      if (ops < res) {
        res = ops;
      }
    }

    // Print the result
    Console.WriteLine(res);
  }

  // Driver code
  public static void Main()
  {
    
    // Initialize the strings
    string s1 = "g_e_s", s2 = "ge_ks";

    // Function call
    minCost(s1, s2);
  }
}

// This code is contributed by Samim Hossain Mondal.

JavaScript

<script>
// Javascript program for the above approach

// Function to check whether
// a character is vowel or not
function isVowel(c)
{
    return (c == 'a' || c == 'e' || c == 'i'
            || c == 'o' || c == 'u');
}

// Function to calculate minimum cost
function minCost(s1, s2)
{
    // If both the lengths are not equal
    if (s1.length != s2.length) {
        document.write(-1);
        return;
    }

    let n = s1.length;

    // Initialize res with max value
    let res = Number. MAX_SAFE_INTEGER;

    // Iterate through every character
    // and check the minimum cost by
    // replacing the blank by all letters
    let c = 'a';
    for (let j = 0; j < 26; j++) {
        
        // Initialize ops to check
        // the cost required by replacing
        // each char c
        let ops = 0;
        for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {

            // If it is blank replace with c
            let c1 = s1[i] == '_' ? c : s1[i];
            let c2 = s2[i] == '_' ? c : s2[i];
            // If both are equal no ops required
            if (c1 == c2)
                continue;
            else {

                // If both are vowels or  consonants
                // it requires cost as two
                // vowel->consonant ->vowel
                // and vice versa
                // Else 1 operation
                ops
                    = ops
                      + (isVowel(s1[i]) != isVowel(s2[i])
                             ? 2
                             : 1);
            }
            
        }
        c = String.fromCharCode(c.charCodeAt(0) + 1);
        
        // Take the minimum
        if (ops < res) {
            res = ops;
        }
    }

    // Print the result
    document.write(res);
}

// Driver code

// Initialize the strings
let s1 = "g_e_s";
let s2 = "ge_ks";

// Function call
minCost(s1, s2);

// This code is contributed by Samim Hossain Mondal.
</script>

Output

Time Complexity: O(26* N)
Space Complexity: O(1)

Minimum cost to convert a string to another by replacing blanks

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Minimum cost to convert a string to another by replacing blanks

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