Minimum Number of Swaps to Make the String Balanced

You are given a 0-indexed string s of even length n. The string consists of exactly n / 2 opening brackets '[' and n / 2 closing brackets ']'.

A string is called balanced if and only if:

  • It is the empty string, or
  • It can be written as AB, where both A and B are balanced strings, or
  • It can be written as [C], where C is a balanced string.

You may swap the brackets at any two indices any number of times.

Return the minimum number of swaps to make s balanced.

Example 1
Inputs = "][]["
Output1
You can make the string balanced by swapping index 0 with index 3, resulting in "[[]]".
Example 2
Inputs = "]]][[["
Output2
After swapping index 0 with index 4 and index 1 with index 5, the resulting string is "[[][]]".

Constraints

  • n == s.length
  • 2 <= n <= 10^6
  • n is even.
  • s[i] is either '[' or ']'.
  • The number of opening brackets '[' equals n / 2, and the number of closing brackets ']' equals n / 2.

Asked at 13 companies

</>

Your Solution

(Ctrl/Cmd + Enter)

Switching Language

Loading template...

Loading...

Sign in to save your progress

AI code evaluation

Get a correctness verdict, missed edge cases, and complexity analysis of your solution.

Sign in to evaluate