What algorithm would you use to establish if two strings could match by swapping one or no characters?

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

What algorithm would you use to establish if two strings could match by swapping one or no characters?

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