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.

 

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) = 0.

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.

 

Constraints:

• 1 <= nums.length <= 1000
• 1 <= nums[i] <= 104
• 0 <= start < nums.length
• target is in nums.

 

Solutions

Solution: Simulation

• Time complexity: O(n)
• Space complexity: O(1)

 

JavaScript

/**
 * @param {number[]} nums
 * @param {number} target
 * @param {number} start
 * @return {number}
 */
const getMinDistance = function (nums, target, start) {
  const n = nums.length;
  let result = n;

  for (let index = 0; index < n; index++) {
    const num = nums[index];

    if (num === target) {
      const value = Math.abs(index - start);

      result = Math.min(value, result);
    }
  }

  return result;
};