How would you ascertain if two strings could be identical after zero or one character swaps?

Question

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

def can_be_equal_with_one_swap(s1, s2):
    # Step 1: Check if lengths are the same
    if len(s1) != len(s2):
        return False
    
    # Step 2: If strings are already identical
    if s1 == s2:
        return True
    
    # Step 3: Find mismatching positions
    mismatches = []
    for i in range(len(s1)):
        if s1[i] != s2[i]:
            mismatches.append(i)
    
    # Step 4: Check the mismatch condition
    if len(mismatches) == 2:
        i, j = mismatches
        # Check if swapping the mismatched characters makes the strings
identical
        return s1[i] == s2[j] and s1[j] == s2[i]
    
    # If there are not exactly two mismatches, return False
    return False

How would you ascertain if two strings could be identical after zero or one character swaps?

Did you come across this question in an interview?

Answers