FastPrep
Problem · String

Break a Palindrome

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Problem statement

A palindrome reads the same forwards and backwards, like "mom". Modify a palindrome by changing exactly one character to another character within the ASCII range [a-z]. The goal is to ensure the new string fulfills the following criteria:

  • It is not a palindrome.
  • It is alphabetically lower than the original palindrome.
  • It is the smallest possible string alphabetically that can be obtained by changing just one character.

    • Return the new string, or "IMPOSSIBLE" if it is not feasible to create such a string.

    Function

    breakPalindrome(palindromeStr: String) → String

    Complete the function breakPalindrome in the editor with the following parameter(s):

    • string palindromeStr: the input string

    Returns

    string: the resulting string, or IMPOSSIBLE if one cannot be formed

    Examples

    Example 1

    palindromeStr = "aaabbaaa"return = "aaaabaaa"

    Possible strings lower alphabetically than 'aaabbaaa' after one change are ['aaaabaaa', 'aaabaaaa']

    'aaaabaaa' is not a palindrome and is the lowest string that can be created from palindromeStr.

    Constraints

    • 1 ≤ length of palindromeStr ≤ 1000
    • palindromeStr is a palindrome
    • palindromeStr contains only lowercase English letters

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    public String breakPalindrome(String palindromeStr) {
  // write your code here
}
    palindromeStr"aaabbaaa"
    expected"aaaabaaa"
    checking account