1848. Minimum Distance to the Target Element

Description

Given an integer array nums (0-indexed) and two integers target and start, find an index i such that nums[i] == target and abs(i - start) is minimized. Note that abs(x) is the absolute value of x.

Return abs(i - start).

It is guaranteed that target exists in nums.

Constraints

• 1 <= nums.length <= 1000

• 1 <= nums[i] <= 104

• 0 <= start < nums.length

• target is in nums.

Approach

Links

• GeeksforGeeks

• Leetcode

• ProgramCreek

• YouTube

Examples

Example 1

Input: nums = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], target = 5, start = 3

Output: 1

Explanation: nums[4] = 5 is the only value equal to target, so the answer is abs(4 - 3) = 1.

Example 2

Input: nums = [1], target = 1, start = 0

Output: 0

Explanation: nums[0] = 1 is the only value equal to target, so the answer is abs(0 - 0) = 1.

Example 3

Input: nums = [1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1], target = 1, start = 0

Output: 0

Explanation: Every value of nums is 1, but nums[0] minimizes abs(i - start), which is abs(0 - 0) = 0.

Solutions

Solution 1

/**
 * Time complexity : 
 * Space complexity : 
 */

class Solution {
    public int getMinDistance(int[] nums, int target, int start) {
        int result = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
        for(int i = 0; i < nums.length; i++) {
            if(nums[i] == target && Math.abs(i-start) < result) {
                result = Math.abs(i-start);
            }
        }
        return result;
    }
}

Follow up