1578.js

/** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 * 
 * 1578. Minimum Time to Make Rope Colorful
 * Topics: DP, Greedy
 * https://leetcode.com/problems/minimum-time-to-make-rope-colorful/?envType=daily-question&envId=2025-11-03
 * 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ */
/**
 * @param {string} colors
 * @param {number[]} neededTime
 * @return {number}
 */
var minCost = function (colors, neededTime) {
  const n = colors.length
  let res = 0
  let i = 0
  while (i < n) {
    let j = i
    let largest = neededTime[j]
    let sum = neededTime[j]
    while (j + 1 < n && colors[j] === colors[j + 1]) {
      j += 1
      largest = Math.max(largest, neededTime[j])
      sum += neededTime[j]
    }
    res += sum - largest
    i = j + 1
  }
  return res
}

console.log(minCost("abaac", [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]))