LeetCode: Length of Last Word

https://leetcode.com/problems/length-of-last-word/description/

Code:

class Solution:
    def lengthOfLastWord(self, s: str) -> int:
        return len(s.strip().split()[-1])

Key Points:

Problem in Simple Words

We need to return the length of the last actual word in a string. Words are separated by spaces, and the string may have extra spaces at the end.

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Core Idea

Use Python string utilities: 1️⃣ .strip() → removes trailing & leading spaces
2️⃣ .split() → splits string into words (ignores extra spaces automatically)
3️⃣ Take the last word and measure its length

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Why This Works

• It correctly ignores:

  • multiple spaces between words

  • spaces at the end or start

• Splitting ensures we get only real words, not empty strings

• Very concise and fully correct for all valid inputs

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Example

Input: "Hello World "
After strip → "Hello World"
After split → ["Hello", "World"]
Last word = "World" → length = 5

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Complexity

Time: O(n) → scanning through string once
Space: O(n) → storing split words