Score : 300 points
Snuke can change a string t of length N into a string t' of length N - 1 under the following rule:
There is a string s consisting of lowercase English letters. Snuke's objective is to apply the above operation to s repeatedly so that all the characters in s are the same. Find the minimum necessary number of operations.
Input is given from Standard Input in the following format:
s
Print the minimum necessary number of operations to achieve the objective.
serval
3
One solution is: serval
→ srvvl
→ svvv
→ vvv
.
jackal
2
One solution is: jackal
→ aacaa
→ aaaa
.
zzz
0
All the characters in s are the same from the beginning.
whbrjpjyhsrywlqjxdbrbaomnw
8
In 8 operations, he can change s to rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
.