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3871. Minimum Deletions for At Most K Distinct Characters

My accepted Python solution to LeetCode problem 3871, Minimum Deletions for At Most K Distinct Characters, running in 3ms.

  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Python
  • Runtime 3ms
  • Memory 17.5MB

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 3ms, memory 17.5MB, accepted 2026-01-02.

python
class Solution:
    def minDeletion(self, s: str, k: int) -> int:
        from collections import Counter
        freq = Counter(s)
        if len(freq) <= k:
            return 0
        # Need to remove all occurrences of (len(freq) - k) characters
        # Choose the ones with smallest frequencies
        freqs = sorted(freq.values())
        to_remove = len(freq) - k
        return sum(freqs[:to_remove])

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