|  | 
|  | 1 | +<p>You are given a string <code>s</code>.</p> | 
|  | 2 | + | 
|  | 3 | +<p>You can perform the following process on <code>s</code> <strong>any</strong> number of times:</p> | 
|  | 4 | + | 
|  | 5 | +<ul> | 
|  | 6 | +	<li>Choose an index <code>i</code> in the string such that there is <strong>at least</strong> one character to the left of index <code>i</code> that is equal to <code>s[i]</code>, and <strong>at least</strong> one character to the right that is also equal to <code>s[i]</code>.</li> | 
|  | 7 | +	<li>Delete the <strong>closest</strong> character to the <strong>left</strong> of index <code>i</code> that is equal to <code>s[i]</code>.</li> | 
|  | 8 | +	<li>Delete the <strong>closest</strong> character to the <strong>right</strong> of index <code>i</code> that is equal to <code>s[i]</code>.</li> | 
|  | 9 | +</ul> | 
|  | 10 | + | 
|  | 11 | +<p>Return the <strong>minimum</strong> length of the final string <code>s</code> that you can achieve.</p> | 
|  | 12 | + | 
|  | 13 | +<p> </p> | 
|  | 14 | +<p><strong class="example">Example 1:</strong></p> | 
|  | 15 | + | 
|  | 16 | +<div class="example-block"> | 
|  | 17 | +<p><strong>Input:</strong> <span class="example-io">s = "abaacbcbb"</span></p> | 
|  | 18 | + | 
|  | 19 | +<p><strong>Output:</strong> <span class="example-io">5</span></p> | 
|  | 20 | + | 
|  | 21 | +<p><strong>Explanation:</strong><br /> | 
|  | 22 | +We do the following operations:</p> | 
|  | 23 | + | 
|  | 24 | +<ul> | 
|  | 25 | +	<li>Choose index 2, then remove the characters at indices 0 and 3. The resulting string is <code>s = "bacbcbb"</code>.</li> | 
|  | 26 | +	<li>Choose index 3, then remove the characters at indices 0 and 5. The resulting string is <code>s = "acbcb"</code>.</li> | 
|  | 27 | +</ul> | 
|  | 28 | +</div> | 
|  | 29 | + | 
|  | 30 | +<p><strong class="example">Example 2:</strong></p> | 
|  | 31 | + | 
|  | 32 | +<div class="example-block"> | 
|  | 33 | +<p><strong>Input:</strong> <span class="example-io">s = "aa"</span></p> | 
|  | 34 | + | 
|  | 35 | +<p><strong>Output:</strong> <span class="example-io">2</span></p> | 
|  | 36 | + | 
|  | 37 | +<p><strong>Explanation:</strong><br /> | 
|  | 38 | +We cannot perform any operations, so we return the length of the original string.</p> | 
|  | 39 | +</div> | 
|  | 40 | + | 
|  | 41 | +<p> </p> | 
|  | 42 | +<p><strong>Constraints:</strong></p> | 
|  | 43 | + | 
|  | 44 | +<ul> | 
|  | 45 | +	<li><code>1 <= s.length <= 2 * 10<sup>5</sup></code></li> | 
|  | 46 | +	<li><code>s</code> consists only of lowercase English letters.</li> | 
|  | 47 | +</ul> | 
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