LeetCode 599, Easy. Topics: Array, Hash Table, String. View on LeetCode.
Generate this problem as a practice environment: tested reference solution, 18 parametrized pytest cases, and a playground notebook:
Problem
Given two arrays of strings list1 and list2, find the common strings with the least index sum.
A common string is a string that appeared in both list1 and list2.
A common string with the least index sum is a common string such that if it appeared at list1[i] and list2[j] then i + j should be the minimum value among all the other common strings.
Return all the common strings with the least index sum. Return the answer in any order.
Examples
Constraints
- 1 <= list1.length, list2.length <= 1000
- 1 <= list1[i].length, list2[i].length <= 30
- list1[i] and list2[i] consist of spaces ’ ’ and English letters.
- All the strings of list1 are unique.
- All the strings of list2 are unique.
- There is at least a common string between list1 and list2.
Solution
Reference implementation from solution.py on GitHub, full suite in test_solution.py:
Complexity
Last modified on September 7, 2026