README.md

1081. Smallest Subsequence of Distinct Characters (Medium)

Return the lexicographically smallest subsequence of text that contains all the distinct characters of text exactly once.

 

Example 1:

Input: "cdadabcc"
Output: "adbc"

Example 2:

Input: "abcd"
Output: "abcd"

Example 3:

Input: "ecbacba"
Output: "eacb"

Example 4:

Input: "leetcode"
Output: "letcod"

 

Note:

1. 1 <= text.length <= 1000
2. text consists of lowercase English letters.

 

Solution 1.

// OJ: https://leetcode.com/problems/smallest-subsequence-of-distinct-characters/
// Author: github.com/lzl124631x
// Time: O(N)
// Space: O(1)
class Solution {
public:
    string smallestSubsequence(string text) {
        int cnts[26] = {0}, used[26] = {0};
        for (char c : text) ++cnts[c - 'a'];
        string ans;
        for (char c : text) {
            cnts[c - 'a']--;
            if (used[c - 'a']) continue;
            while (ans.size() && cnts[ans.back() - 'a'] && c < ans.back()) {
                used[ans.back() - 'a'] = 0;
                ans.pop_back();
            }
            ans.push_back(c);
            used[c - 'a'] = 1;
        }
        return ans;
    }
};