problemeasyalgorithmsleetcode-2224leetcode 2224leetcode2224

Minimum Number of Operations to Convert Time

EasyUpdated: Aug 2, 2025
Practice on:
LeetCode

Problem

You are given two strings current and correct representing two 24-hour times.

24-hour times are formatted as "HH:MM", where HH is between 00 and 23, and MM is between 00 and 59. The earliest 24-hour time is 00:00, and the latest is 23:59.

In one operation you can increase the time current by 1, 5, 15, or 60 minutes. You can perform this operation any number of times.

Return _theminimum number of operations needed to convert _current tocorrect.

Examples

Example 1

Input: current = "02:30", correct = "04:35"
Output: 3
Explanation: We can convert current to correct in 3 operations as follows:
- Add 60 minutes to current. current becomes "03:30".
- Add 60 minutes to current. current becomes "04:30".
- Add 5 minutes to current. current becomes "04:35".
It can be proven that it is not possible to convert current to correct in fewer than 3 operations.

Example 2

Input: current = "11:00", correct = "11:01"
Output: 1
Explanation: We only have to add one minute to current, so the minimum number of operations needed is 1.

Constraints

  • current and correct are in the format "HH:MM"
  • current <= correct

Solution

Method 1 – Greedy (Largest Step First)

Intuition

Convert both times to minutes, then use the largest possible step (60, 15, 5, 1) at each stage to minimize the number of operations.

Approach

  1. Parse both times to minutes.
  2. Compute the difference.
  3. For each step in [60, 15, 5, 1], use as many as possible, subtract, and count.
  4. Return the total count.

Code

C++
#include <string>
using namespace std;
class Solution {
public:
    int convertTime(string current, string correct) {
        int c = stoi(current.substr(0,2)) * 60 + stoi(current.substr(3,2));
        int t = stoi(correct.substr(0,2)) * 60 + stoi(correct.substr(3,2));
        int diff = t - c, ans = 0;
        for (int step : {60, 15, 5, 1}) {
            ans += diff / step;
            diff %= step;
        }
        return ans;
    }
};
Go
import "strconv"
func convertTime(current, correct string) int {
    c := atoi(current[:2])*60 + atoi(current[3:])
    t := atoi(correct[:2])*60 + atoi(correct[3:])
    diff, ans := t-c, 0
    for _, step := range []int{60, 15, 5, 1} {
        ans += diff / step
        diff %= step
    }
    return ans
}
func atoi(s string) int {
    n, _ := strconv.Atoi(s)
    return n
}
Java
class Solution {
    public int convertTime(String current, String correct) {
        int c = Integer.parseInt(current.substring(0,2)) * 60 + Integer.parseInt(current.substring(3,5));
        int t = Integer.parseInt(correct.substring(0,2)) * 60 + Integer.parseInt(correct.substring(3,5));
        int diff = t - c, ans = 0;
        int[] steps = {60, 15, 5, 1};
        for (int step : steps) {
            ans += diff / step;
            diff %= step;
        }
        return ans;
    }
}
Kotlin
class Solution {
    fun convertTime(current: String, correct: String): Int {
        val c = current.substring(0,2).toInt() * 60 + current.substring(3,5).toInt()
        val t = correct.substring(0,2).toInt() * 60 + correct.substring(3,5).toInt()
        var diff = t - c
        var ans = 0
        for (step in listOf(60, 15, 5, 1)) {
            ans += diff / step
            diff %= step
        }
        return ans
    }
}
Python
class Solution:
    def convertTime(self, current: str, correct: str) -> int:
        c = int(current[:2]) * 60 + int(current[3:])
        t = int(correct[:2]) * 60 + int(correct[3:])
        diff, ans = t - c, 0
        for step in [60, 15, 5, 1]:
            ans += diff // step
            diff %= step
        return ans
Rust
impl Solution {
    pub fn convert_time(current: String, correct: String) -> i32 {
        let c = current[0..2].parse::<i32>().unwrap() * 60 + current[3..].parse::<i32>().unwrap();
        let t = correct[0..2].parse::<i32>().unwrap() * 60 + correct[3..].parse::<i32>().unwrap();
        let mut diff = t - c;
        let mut ans = 0;
        for step in [60, 15, 5, 1] {
            ans += diff / step;
            diff %= step;
        }
        ans
    }
}
TypeScript
class Solution {
    convertTime(current: string, correct: string): number {
        const c = parseInt(current.slice(0,2)) * 60 + parseInt(current.slice(3));
        const t = parseInt(correct.slice(0,2)) * 60 + parseInt(correct.slice(3));
        let diff = t - c, ans = 0;
        for (const step of [60, 15, 5, 1]) {
            ans += Math.floor(diff / step);
            diff %= step;
        }
        return ans;
    }
}

Complexity

  • ⏰ Time complexity: O(1) — constant work.
  • 🧺 Space complexity: O(1) — only a few variables.

Comments