Word Ladder
Problem statement
Given two distinct lowercase words beginWord and endWord, and an array wordList, return the number of words in the shortest transformation sequence from beginWord to endWord.
The problem statement continues
ProExamples
Example 1
beginWord = "hit"endWord = "cog"wordList = ["hot","dot","dog","lot","log","cog"]return = 5One shortest sequence is hit → hot → dot → dog → cog, which contains 5 words.
FastPrep Pro
Reported in 1 Google interview this weekUnlock this recently reported problem
FastPrep Pro gives you full access to interview problems reported within the last week.
- Full problem statement and constraints
- 2 more worked examples, explained
- Guided hints and editorial
- Run your code on real test cases
$8.25/month
$99 billed yearly — or $19 month-to-month. Cancel anytime.
Free plan — 2 of 2 free unlocks used this week