Leetcode•Oct 16, 2026
Find Latest Group of Size M
Hazrat Ali
Leetcode
You have a binary string of size n that initially has all its bits set to zero. At each step i (assuming both the binary string and arr are 1-indexed) from 1 to n, the bit at position arr[i] is set to 1.
You are also given an integer m. Find the latest step at which there exists a group of ones of length m. A group of ones is a contiguous substring of 1's such that it cannot be extended in either direction.
Return the latest step at which there exists a group of ones of length exactly m. If no such group exists, return -1.
Example 1:
Input: arr = [3,5,1,2,4], m = 1 Output: 4 Explanation: Step 1: "00100", groups: ["1"] Step 2: "00101", groups: ["1", "1"] Step 3: "10101", groups: ["1", "1", "1"] Step 4: "11101", groups: ["111", "1"] Step 5: "11111", groups: ["11111"] The latest step at which there exists a group of size 1 is step 4.
Example 2:
Input: arr = [3,1,5,4,2], m = 2 Output: -1 Explanation: Step 1: "00100", groups: ["1"] Step 2: "10100", groups: ["1", "1"] Step 3: "10101", groups: ["1", "1", "1"] Step 4: "10111", groups: ["1", "111"] Step 5: "11111", groups: ["11111"] No group of size 2 exists during any step.
Solution
var findLatestStep = function(arr, m) {
const n = arr.length;
if (m === n) return n;
const length = new Array(n + 2).fill(0);
let count = 0;
let answer = -1;
for (let step = 0; step < n; step++) {
const pos = arr[step];
const left = length[pos - 1];
const right = length[pos + 1];
if (left === m) count--;
if (right === m) count--;
const newLength = left + right + 1;
length[pos - left] = newLength;
length[pos + right] = newLength;
length[pos] = newLength;
if (newLength === m) count++;
if (count > 0) {
answer = step + 1;
}
}
return answer;
};