Practice/Google/Leetcode 2259. Remove Digit From Number to Maximize Result

Leetcode 2259. Remove Digit From Number to Maximize Result

CodingMust

Problem

You are given a string representing a positive integer and a specific digit character. Your task is to remove exactly one occurrence of this digit from the number string to create the largest possible resulting number. The digit is guaranteed to appear at least once in the number.

The key challenge is determining which occurrence of the target digit to remove when multiple instances exist. You must preserve the original order of all remaining digits.

Requirements

1. Remove exactly one occurrence of the specified digit
2. Return the resulting string that represents the maximum possible value
3. Maintain the relative order of all remaining digits
4. Handle cases where the target digit appears multiple times

Constraints

• 2 ≤ number.length ≤ 100
• number consists of digits from '1' to '9'
• digit is a digit from '1' to '9'
• digit occurs at least once in number
• Time complexity: O(n) where n is the length of the number
• Space complexity: O(n) for storing candidate results

Examples

Example 1:

Input: number = "123", digit = "3" Output: "12" Explanation: The digit '3' appears only once. Removing it leaves "12".

Example 2:

` Input: number = "1231", digit = "1" Output: "231" Explanation: The digit '1' appears twice (positions 0 and 3).

• Removing the first '1': "231"
• Removing the last '1': "123" Since 231 > 123, we return "231". `

Example 3:

` Input: number = "551", digit = "5" Output: "51" Explanation: Both '5' digits can be removed:

• Removing first '5': "51"
• Removing second '5': "51" Both produce the same result, so we return "51". `