#[allow(unused_imports)]
use std::cmp::{max, min, Ordering};
#[allow(unused_imports)]
use std::collections::{BTreeMap, BTreeSet, BinaryHeap, HashMap, HashSet, VecDeque};
#[allow(unused_imports)]
use std::io::{stderr, stdin, stdout, BufWriter, StdoutLock, Write};
#[allow(unused_imports)]
use std::iter::FromIterator;
#[allow(unused_macros)]
macro_rules ! input { ( source = $ s : expr , $ ( $ r : tt ) * ) => { let mut iter = $ s . split_whitespace ( ) ; let mut next = || { iter . next ( ) . unwrap ( ) } ; input_inner ! { next , $ ( $ r ) * } } ; ( $ ( $ r : tt ) * ) => { let stdin = std :: io :: stdin ( ) ; let mut bytes = std :: io :: Read :: bytes ( std :: io :: BufReader :: new ( stdin . lock ( ) ) ) ; let mut next = move || -> String { bytes . by_ref ( ) . map ( | r | r . unwrap ( ) as char ) . skip_while ( | c | c . is_whitespace ( ) ) . take_while ( | c |! c . is_whitespace ( ) ) . collect ( ) } ; input_inner ! { next , $ ( $ r ) * } } ; }
#[allow(unused_macros)]
macro_rules ! input_inner { ( $ next : expr ) => { } ; ( $ next : expr , ) => { } ; ( $ next : expr , $ var : ident : $ t : tt $ ( $ r : tt ) * ) => { let $ var = read_value ! ( $ next , $ t ) ; input_inner ! { $ next $ ( $ r ) * } } ; }
#[allow(unused_macros)]
macro_rules ! read_value { ( $ next : expr , ( $ ( $ t : tt ) ,* ) ) => { ( $ ( read_value ! ( $ next , $ t ) ) ,* ) } ; ( $ next : expr , [ $ t : tt ; $ len : expr ] ) => { ( 0 ..$ len ) . map ( | _ | read_value ! ( $ next , $ t ) ) . collect ::< Vec < _ >> ( ) } ; ( $ next : expr , chars ) => { read_value ! ( $ next , String ) . chars ( ) . collect ::< Vec < char >> ( ) } ; ( $ next : expr , bytes ) => { read_value ! ( $ next , String ) . into_bytes ( ) } ; ( $ next : expr , usize1 ) => { read_value ! ( $ next , usize ) - 1 } ; ( $ next : expr , $ t : ty ) => { $ next ( ) . parse ::<$ t > ( ) . expect ( "Parse error" ) } ; }
#[allow(dead_code)]
struct Writer {
    s: String,
}
#[allow(unused_imports)]
use std::fmt::Display;
#[allow(dead_code)]
#[doc = " let mut writer = Writer::new();"]
#[doc = " writer.writeln(hoge);"]
#[doc = " writer.flush()"]
impl Writer {
    #[allow(dead_code)]
    pub fn new() -> Writer {
        Writer { s: String::new() }
    }
    #[allow(dead_code)]
    pub fn flush(&mut self) {
        print!("{}", self.s);
        self.s.clear();
    }
    pub fn write<T: Display>(&mut self, x: T) {
        self.s.push_str(&format!("{}", x));
    }
    pub fn writeln<T: Display>(&mut self, x: T) {
        self.s.push_str(&format!("{}", x));
        self.s.push('\n');
    }
    #[allow(dead_code)]
    pub fn write_vec<T: Display>(&mut self, xs: &Vec<T>) {
        if xs.len() == 0 {
            self.writeln("");
            return;
        }
        self.write(&format!("{}", xs[0]));
        for i in 1..xs.len() {
            self.write(&format!(" {}", xs[i]));
        }
        self.writeln("");
    }
}
#[allow(unused_macros)]
macro_rules ! dbg { ( $ ( $ a : expr ) ,* ) => { writeln ! ( & mut stderr ( ) , concat ! ( $ ( stringify ! ( $ a ) , " = {:?}, " ) ,* ) , $ ( $ a ) ,* ) . unwrap ( ) ; } }
#[allow(dead_code)]
fn main() {
    input! {
        s: chars
    }
    let mut all = true;
    for i in 1..s.len() {
        if s[i] != s[i-1] {
            all = false;
            break;
        }
    }
    if all {
        println!("{}", 0);
        return;
    }
    let mut t = Vec::new();
    let mut set = HashSet::new();
    for i in 0..s.len() {
        let val = s[i] as u8 - 'a' as u8;
        t.push(val);
        set.insert(val);
    }
    let mut ans = 1_000_000_000;
    for v in set {
        let mut x = vec![100; s.len()];
        let mut length = s.len();
        let mut ok = false;
        let mut tmp = 0;
        for i in 0..s.len() {
            if t[i] == v {
                x[i] = v;
            }
        }
        while !ok {
            length -= 1;
            ok = true;
            for i in 0..length {
                if x[i+1] == v {
                    x[i] = v;
                }
            }
            for i in 0..length {
                if x[i] != v {
                    ok = false;
                    break;
                }
            }
            tmp += 1;
        }
        ans = min(ans, tmp);
    }
    println!("{}", ans);
}

Measured memory_bytes: 4352