Shortest Word Distance

shortest_word_distance.py

"""
Given a list of words and two words word1 and word2, return the shortest distance between these two words in the list.

Example:
Assume that words = ["practice", "makes", "perfect", "coding", "makes"].

Input: word1 = “coding”, word2 = “practice”
Output: 3
Input: word1 = "makes", word2 = "coding"
Output: 1
"""
class Solution:
    def shortestDistance(self, words: List[str], word1: str, word2: str) -> int:
        pos_1 = pos_2 = -1
        distance = len(words)
        for idx, word in enumerate(words):
            if words[idx] == word1:
                pos_1 = idx
            elif words[idx] == word2:
                pos_2 = idx
            if pos_1 != -1 and pos_2 != -1:
                distance = min(abs(pos_2 - pos_1), distance)
        return distance