Problem:
Score : 300 points

Problem Statement

Snuke can change a string t of length N into a string t' of length N - 1 under the following rule:

For each i (1 ≤ i ≤ N - 1), the i-th character of t' must be either the i-th or (i + 1)-th character of t.

There is a string s consisting of lowercase English letters.
Snuke's objective is to apply the above operation to s repeatedly so that all the characters in s are the same.
Find the minimum necessary number of operations.

Constraints

1 ≤ |s| ≤ 100

s consists of lowercase English letters.

Input

Input is given from Standard Input in the following format:

s

Output

Print the minimum necessary number of operations to achieve the objective.

Sample Input 1

serval

Sample Output 1

3

One solution is: serval → srvvl → svvv → vvv.

Sample Input 2

jackal

Sample Output 2

2

One solution is: jackal → aacaa → aaaa.

Sample Input 3

zzz

Sample Output 3

0

All the characters in s are the same from the beginning.

Sample Input 4

whbrjpjyhsrywlqjxdbrbaomnw

Sample Output 4

8

In 8 operations, he can change s to rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Solution in C# (Mono 4.6.2.0) (judge verdict: Accepted)

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace AGC016A
{
    class Program
    {
        public static void Solve(Input input)
        {
            var s = input.Next();
            var u = s.Distinct().ToArray();

            var min = int.MaxValue;
            for (int i = 0; i < u.Count(); i++)
            {
                min = Math.Min(min, sim(s, u[i]));
            }

            Console.WriteLine(min);
        }

        static int sim(string s, char ch)
        {
            if (s.All(x => x == ch)) return 0;

            var sb = new StringBuilder();
            for (int i = 0; i < s.Length - 1; i++)
            {
                if (s[i] == ch || s[i + 1] == ch) sb.Append(ch);
                else sb.Append(s[i]);
            }

            return 1 + sim(sb.ToString(), ch);
        }

        #region Main
        public static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // 出力が少ないときはこれをセットする方が時間かかるけれど
            // その場合は出力がボトルネックになっていないので、まあ良しとする
            var needsFlushOutput = true;
            if (needsFlushOutput)
            {
                // 細かく出力しないようにする
                var sw = new StreamWriter(Console.OpenStandardOutput()) { AutoFlush = false };
                Console.SetOut(sw);
            }

            // 通常は引数無しで、ファイルから読み出したい場合はpath指定する
            var input = new Input();
            // 仮想的に標準入力をセットする
            //input.SetText("");

            Solve(input);

            Console.Out.Flush();
        }
        #endregion

        #region Competitive Template
#pragma warning disable CS0414
        static readonly int MOD = (int)1e9 + 7;
        static readonly int[] dx = { 1, 0, -1, 0 };
        static readonly int[] dy = { 0, 1, 0, -1 };
        /// <summary> 左上が原点 </summary>
        static readonly char[] dir = { 'R', 'U', 'L', 'D' };
#pragma warning restore CS0414

        /// <summary>
        /// 値を書き換え可能なTuple（ぐらいのイメージ）
        /// </summary>
        public class Pair<T, U> : IComparable<Pair<T, U>>, IEquatable<Pair<T, U>>
            where T : IComparable<T>
            where U : IComparable<U>
        {
            public T V1 { get; set; }
            public U V2 { get; set; }

            public Pair(T v1, U v2)
            {
                this.V1 = v1;
                this.V2 = v2;
            }

            public Pair(Pair<T, U> src) : this(src.V1, src.V2) { }

            public int CompareTo(Pair<T, U> other)
            {
                var r = this.V1.CompareTo(other.V1);
                if (r == 0) r = this.V2.CompareTo(other.V2);

                return r;
            }

            public bool Equals(Pair<T, U> other)
                => (other != null && this.CompareTo(other) == 0);

            public override string ToString()
                => $"{V1} {V2}";

            public override bool Equals(object obj)
                => Equals(obj as Pair<T, U>);

            public override int GetHashCode()
            {
                var hashCode = 1989511945;
                hashCode = hashCode * -1521134295 + V1.GetHashCode();
                hashCode = hashCode * -1521134295 + V2.GetHashCode();
                return hashCode;
            }

            public static bool operator ==(Pair<T, U> a, Pair<T, U> b)
            {
                if (object.ReferenceEquals(a, null))
                {
                    return object.ReferenceEquals(b, null);
                }

                return a.Equals(b);
            }

            public static bool operator !=(Pair<T, U> a, Pair<T, U> b)
                => !(a == b);
            public static bool operator <(Pair<T, U> a, Pair<T, U> b)
                => a.CompareTo(b) < 0;
            public static bool operator <=(Pair<T, U> a, Pair<T, U> b)
                => a.CompareTo(b) <= 0;
            public static bool operator >(Pair<T, U> a, Pair<T, U> b)
                => a.CompareTo(b) > 0;
            public static bool operator >=(Pair<T, U> a, Pair<T, U> b)
                => a.CompareTo(b) >= 0;
        }

        public class Input
        {
            // 変な改行コードがたまに混じっているので、一応セパレート指定する
            // スペース単独指定の方がもちろん早い
            static readonly char[] separator = { ' ', '\r', '\n' };
            readonly StreamReader sr;
            Queue<string> q { get; set; }

            /// <summary>
            /// 特定のファイルから読み出したい場合はpath指定する
            /// </summary>
            public Input(string path = "")
            {
                q = new Queue<string>();

                if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(path))
                {
                    sr = new StreamReader(Console.OpenStandardInput());
                }
                else
                {
                    sr = new StreamReader(path);
                }
            }

            /// <summary>
            /// 入力予約
            /// </summary>
            public void SetText(IEnumerable<string> items)
            {
                foreach (var item in items)
                {
                    SetText(item);
                }
            }

            /// <summary>
            /// 入力予約
            /// </summary>
            public bool SetText(string s)
            {
                if (s == null) return false;

                foreach (var elem in s.Trim().Split(separator, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries))
                {
                    q.Enqueue(elem);
                }

                return true;
            }

            /// <summary>
            /// 要素が存在するか
            /// </summary>
            public bool Any()
                => q.Any() || read();


            /// <summary>
            /// 内部queueに入力からの値をsplitして格納する
            /// </summary>
            bool read()
            {
                if (!SetText(sr.ReadLine())) return false;

                if (!q.Any()) return read();

                return true;
            }

            /// <summary>
            /// 次のstringを一つ読み込む
            /// </summary>
            public string Next()
            {
                if (!q.Any() && !read())
                {
                    return "";
                }

                return q.Dequeue();
            }

            /// <summary>
            /// 指定個数queueにたまるまでenqueueし続ける
            /// </summary>
            bool accumulate(int n)
            {
                while (q.Count() < n)
                {
                    if (!read()) return false;
                }

                return true;
            }

            public int NextInt() => int.Parse(Next());
            public long NextLong() => long.Parse(Next());
            public double NextDouble() => double.Parse(Next());

            /// <summary>
            /// n個の要素をparseして、それぞれにoffsetをaddした配列を返す
            /// </summary>
            T[] NextT<T>(int n, T offset, Func<string, T> parse, Func<T, T, T> add)
            {
                if (!accumulate(n)) return null;

                var a = new T[n];

                for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
                    a[i] = add(parse(q.Dequeue()), offset);

                return a;
            }

            public string[] Next(int n) => NextT(n, "", x => x, (x, y) => x);
            public int[] NextInt(int n, int offset = 0) => NextT(n, offset, int.Parse, (x, y) => x + y);
            public long[] NextLong(int n, long offset = 0) => NextT(n, offset, long.Parse, (x, y) => x + y);
            public double[] NextDouble(int n, double offset = 0.0) => NextT(n, offset, double.Parse, (x, y) => x + y);

            /// <summary>
            /// n2個の要素をn1個まとめたリストとする
            /// </summary>
            List<T>[] NextList<T>(int n1, int n2, T offset, Func<string, T> parse, Func<T, T, T> add)
            {
                if (!accumulate(n2 * n1)) return null;

                var list = Enumerable.Range(0, n1)
                    .Select(_ => new List<T>())
                    .ToArray();

                for (int i = 0; i < n1; i++)
                {
                    list[i].Add(add(parse(q.Dequeue()), offset));
                }

                return list;
            }

            public List<string>[] Next(int n1, int n2) => NextList(n1, n2, "", x => x, (x, y) => x);
            public List<int>[] NextInt(int n1, int n2, int offset = 0) => NextList(n1, n2, offset, int.Parse, (x, y) => x + y);
            public List<long>[] NextLong(int n1, int n2, long offset = 0) => NextList(n1, n2, offset, long.Parse, (x, y) => x + y);
            public List<double>[] NextDouble(int n1, int n2, double offset = 0.0) => NextList(n1, n2, offset, double.Parse, (x, y) => x + y);
        }

        static class Utils
        {
            public static void Print<T>(IEnumerable<T> ie, string sep = " ") => Console.WriteLine(string.Join(sep, ie));
            public static void Print<T>(params T[] objs) => Print(objs);
            public static T Max<T>(params T[] objs) => objs.Max();
            public static T Min<T>(params T[] objs) => objs.Min();

            public static void Swap<T>(ref T x, ref T y) where T : struct { var t = x; x = y; y = t; }
            public static void Swap<T>(IList<T> list, int i, int j) where T : struct { var t = list[i]; list[i] = list[j]; list[j] = t; }

            /// <summary>
            /// vでfillされたT[d1][d2]配列を作成する
            /// </summary>
            public static T[][] Create2DArray<T>(int d1, int d2, T v = default(T))
            {
                return
                    Enumerable.Repeat(0, d1).Select(_ =>
                    Enumerable.Repeat(v, d2).ToArray()).ToArray();
            }

            /// <summary>
            /// vでfillされたT[d1][d2][d3]配列を作成する
            /// </summary>
            public static T[][][] Create3DArray<T>(int d1, int d2, int d3, T v = default(T))
            {
                return
                    Enumerable.Repeat(0, d1).Select(_ =>
                    Enumerable.Repeat(0, d2).Select(__ =>
                    Enumerable.Repeat(v, d3).ToArray()).ToArray()).ToArray();
            }
        }
        #endregion
    }
}