Problem

Given a string s and an integer k, reverse the first k characters for every 2k characters counting from the start of the string.

If there are fewer than k characters left, reverse all of them. If there are less than 2k but greater than or equal to k characters, then reverse the first k characters and leave the other as original.

Examples

Example 1:

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Input:
s = "abcdefg", k = 2
Output:
 "bacdfeg"

Example 2:

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Input:
s = "abcd", k = 2
Output:
 "bacd"

Solution

Method 1 - Iterative using swap function

Code

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public class Solution {
    public String reverseStr(String s, int k) {
        char[] arr = s.toCharArray();
        int n = arr.length;
        int i = 0;
        while(i < n) {
            int j = Math.min(i + k - 1, n - 1);
            swap(arr, i, j);
            i += 2 * k;
        }
        return String.valueOf(arr);
    }
    private void swap(char[] arr, int l, int r) {
        while (l < r) {
            char temp = arr[l];
            arr[l++] = arr[r];
            arr[r--] = temp;
        }
    }
}

Complexity

  • Time: O(n)
  • Space: O(1)