How to Fix Minimum Window Substring Errors
DodaTech
Updated 2026-06-26
1 min read
In this tutorial, you'll learn about How to Fix Minimum Window Substring Errors. We cover key concepts, practical examples, and best practices.
Fix minimum window substring errors when character count tracking wrong or window contract condition incorrect.
Quick Fix
Wrong
def minw(s,t):
need=Counter(t); have=0
need_len=len(need); res=''
l=0
for r,c in enumerate(s):
if c in need:
need[c]-=1
if need[c]==0: have+=1
while have==need_len:
if not res or r-l+1<len(res): res=s[l:r+1]
if s[l] in need:
if need[s[l]]==0: have-=1
need[s[l]]+=1
l+=1
return res
Must check need[s[l]]==0 before decrementing have. Off-by-one in condition.
Right
from collections import Counter
def minw(s,t):
need=Counter(t); have=0; need_len=len(need)
l=0; res=(0,float('inf'))
for r,c in enumerate(s):
if c in need:
need[c]-=1
if need[c]==0: have+=1
while have==need_len:
if r-l+1<res[1]-res[0]+1: res=(l,r)
if s[l] in need:
if need[s[l]]==0: have-=1
need[s[l]]+=1
l+=1
return s[res[0]:res[1]+1] if res[1]!=float('inf') else ''
s='ADOBECODEBANC', t='ABC' -> 'BANC'. O(n).
Prevention
Track needed character counts. Expand right until all needed found. Contract left while valid.
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