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LeetCode solutions

2817. Minimum Cost to Make All Characters Equal

My accepted Python solution to LeetCode problem 2817, Minimum Cost to Make All Characters Equal, running in 102ms.

  • Difficulty: Medium
  • Python
  • Runtime 102ms
  • Memory 17.8MB

Read the problem on LeetCode View on GitHub

The problem statement is LeetCode’s and stays on their site. What follows is my accepted solution.

Python

Accepted on LeetCode — runtime 102ms, memory 17.8MB, accepted 2025-12-30.

python
class Solution:
    def minimumCost(self, s: str) -> int:
        n = len(s)
        cost = 0
        
        # For each pair of adjacent characters that differ
        # We need to flip one side or the other
        # Greedy: at position i, if s[i] != s[i+1], flip the smaller side
        
        for i in range(n - 1):
            if s[i] != s[i + 1]:
                # Cost to flip left side (0 to i) is i + 1
                # Cost to flip right side (i+1 to n-1) is n - i - 1
                cost += min(i + 1, n - i - 1)
        
        return cost

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