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 Rust (1.15.1) (judge verdict: Wrong Answer)

#[allow(unused_imports)]
use std::cmp::{Ordering};

#[allow(unused_imports)]
use std::collections::{BTreeMap, BTreeSet, BinaryHeap, HashMap, HashSet, VecDeque};

#[allow(unused_imports)]
use std::io::{stdin, stdout, BufWriter, Write};

#[allow(unused_imports)]
use std::iter::FromIterator;

#[allow(unused_macros)]
macro_rules! min {
    ($x: expr) => ($x);
    ($x: expr, $($z: expr),+) => {{
        std::cmp::min($x, min!($($z),*))
    }}
}

#[allow(unused_macros)]
macro_rules! max {
    ($x: expr) => ($x);
    ($x: expr, $($z: expr),+) => {{
        std::cmp::max($x, max!($($z),*))
    }}
}

#[allow(unused_macros)]
macro_rules! get { 
    ([$t: ty]) => { 
        { 
            let mut line = String::new(); 
            stdin().read_line(&mut line).unwrap(); 
            line.split_whitespace().map(|t|t.parse::<$t>().unwrap()).collect::<Vec<_>>()
        }
    };
    ([$t: ty];$n: expr) => {
        (0..$n).map(|_|get!([$t])).collect::<Vec<_>>()
    };
    ($t: ty) => {
        {
            let mut line = String::new();
            stdin().read_line(&mut line).unwrap();
            line.trim().parse::<$t>().unwrap()
        }
    };
    ($($t: ty),*) => {
        { 
            let mut line = String::new();
            stdin().read_line(&mut line).unwrap();
            let mut iter = line.split_whitespace();
            ($(iter.next().unwrap().parse::<$t>().unwrap(),)*)
        }
    };
    ($t: ty; $n: expr) => {
        (0..$n).map(|_|get!($t)).collect::<Vec<_>>()
    };
    ($($t: ty),*; $n: expr) => {
        (0..$n).map(|_|get!($($t),*)).collect::<Vec<_>>()
    };
}

#[allow(unused_macros)]
macro_rules! debug {
    ($($a:expr),*) => {
        #[cfg(debug_assertions)]
        writeln!(&mut std::io::stderr(), concat!("[DEBUG] ", $(stringify!($a), "={:?} "),*), $($a),*).unwrap();
    }
}

const BIG_STACK_SIZE: bool = true;

#[allow(dead_code)]
fn main() {
    use std::thread;
    if BIG_STACK_SIZE {
        thread::Builder::new()
            .stack_size(32 * 1024 * 1024)
            .name("solve".into())
            .spawn(solve)
            .unwrap()
            .join()
            .unwrap();
    } else {
        solve();
    }
}

fn solve() {
    let s = get!(String);

    if s.chars().zip(s.chars().skip(1)).all(|(c1,c2)| c1 == c2) {
        println!("0");
        return;
    }

    let mut map = BTreeMap::new();
    for c in s.chars() {
        *map.entry(c).or_insert(0) += 1;
    }
    let mut maxcs = Vec::new();
    let mut mx = 0;
    for (_,&c) in &map {
        mx = max!(mx, c);
    }
    for (k,c) in map {
        if mx == c {
            maxcs.push(k);
        }
    }

    let mut mn = std::usize::MAX;
    for c in maxcs {
        let mut s = s.chars().collect::<Vec<_>>();
        let mut count = 0;
        loop {
            count += 1;
            let mut tmp = vec!['a'; s.len()-1];
            for i in 0..s.len()-1 {
                tmp[i] = if s[i] == c || s[i+1] == c {
                    c
                } else {
                    s[i]
                };
            }
            if tmp.iter().all(|&e| e == c) {
                break;
            }
            s = tmp;
        }
        mn = min!(mn, count);
    }
    println!("{}", mn);
}