"content":"<p>There is a long table with a line of plates and candles arranged on top of it. You are given a <strong>0-indexed</strong> string <code>s</code> consisting of characters <code>'*'</code> and <code>'|'</code> only, where a <code>'*'</code> represents a <strong>plate</strong> and a <code>'|'</code> represents a <strong>candle</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>You are also given a <strong>0-indexed</strong> 2D integer array <code>queries</code> where <code>queries[i] = [left<sub>i</sub>, right<sub>i</sub>]</code> denotes the <strong>substring</strong> <code>s[left<sub>i</sub>...right<sub>i</sub>]</code> (<strong>inclusive</strong>). For each query, you need to find the <strong>number</strong> of plates <strong>between candles</strong> that are <strong>in the substring</strong>. A plate is considered <strong>between candles</strong> if there is at least one candle to its left <strong>and</strong> at least one candle to its right <strong>in the substring</strong>.</p>\n\n<ul>\n\t<li>For example, <code>s = "||**||**|*"</code>, and a query <code>[3, 8]</code> denotes the substring <code>"*||<strong><u>**</u></strong>|"</code>. The number of plates between candles in this substring is <code>2</code>, as each of the two plates has at least one candle <strong>in the substring</strong> to its left <strong>and</strong> right.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Return <em>an integer array</em> <code>answer</code> <em>where</em> <code>answer[i]</code> <em>is the answer to the</em> <code>i<sup>th</sup></code> <em>query</em>.</p>\n\n<p> </p>\n<p><strong class=\"example\">Example 1:</strong></p>\n<img alt=\"ex-1\" src=\"https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2021/10/04/ex-1.png\" style=\"width: 400px; height: 134px;\" />\n<pre>\n<strong>Input:</strong> s = "**|**|***|", queries = [[2,5],[5,9]]\n<strong>Output:</strong> [2,3]\n<strong>Explanation:</strong>\n- queries[0] has two plates between candles.\n- queries[1] has three plates between candles.\n</pre>\n\n<p><strong class=\"example\">Example 2:</strong></p>\n<img alt=\"ex-2\" src=\"https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2021/10/04/ex-2.png\" style=\"width: 600px; height: 193px;\" />\n<pre>\n<strong>Input:</strong> s = "***|**|*****|**||**|*", queries = [[1,17],[4,5],[14,17],[5,11],[15,16]]\n<strong>Output:</strong> [9,0,0,0,0]\n<strong>Explanation:</strong>\n- queries[0] has nine plates between candles.\n- The other queries have zero plates between candles.\n</pre>\n\n<p> </p>\n<p><strong>Constraints:</strong></p>\n\n<ul>\n\t<li><code>3 <= s.length <= 10<sup>5</sup></code></li>\n\t<li><code>s</code> consists of <code>'*'</code> and <code>'|'</code> characters.</li>\n\t<li><code>1 <= queries.length <= 10<sup>5</sup></code></li>\n\t<li><code>queries[i].length == 2</code></li>\n\t<li><code>0 <= left<sub>i</sub> <= right<sub>i</sub> < s.length</code></li>\n</ul>\n",
"similarQuestions":"[{\"title\": \"Find First and Last Position of Element in Sorted Array\", \"titleSlug\": \"find-first-and-last-position-of-element-in-sorted-array\", \"difficulty\": \"Medium\", \"translatedTitle\": null}, {\"title\": \"Can Make Palindrome from Substring\", \"titleSlug\": \"can-make-palindrome-from-substring\", \"difficulty\": \"Medium\", \"translatedTitle\": null}]",
"Can you find the indices of the most left and right candles for a given substring, perhaps by using binary search (or better) over an array of indices of all the bars?",
"Once the indices of the most left and right bars are determined, how can you efficiently count the number of plates within the range? Prefix sums?"
"envInfo":"{\"cpp\": [\"C++\", \"<p>Compiled with <code> clang 11 </code> using the latest C++ 20 standard.</p>\\r\\n\\r\\n<p>Your code is compiled with level two optimization (<code>-O2</code>). <a href=\\\"https://github.com/google/sanitizers/wiki/AddressSanitizer\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\">AddressSanitizer</a> is also enabled to help detect out-of-bounds and use-after-free bugs.</p>\\r\\n\\r\\n<p>Most standard library headers are already included automatically for your convenience.</p>\"], \"java\": [\"Java\", \"<p><code>OpenJDK 17</code>. Java 8 features such as lambda expressions and stream API can be used. </p>\\r\\n\\r\\n<p>Most standard library headers are already included automatically for your convenience.</p>\\r\\n<p>Includes <code>Pair</code> class from https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/javafx/api/javafx/util/Pair.html.</p>\"], \"python\": [\"Python\", \"<p><code>Python 2.7.12</code>.</p>\\r\\n\\r\\n<p>Most libraries are already imported automatically for your convenience, such as <a href=\\\"https://docs.python.org/2/library/array.html\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\">array</a>, <a href=\\\"https://docs.python.org/2/library/bisect.html\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\">bisect</a>, <a href=\\\"https://docs.python.org/2/library/collections.html\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\">collections</a>. If you need more libraries, you can import it yourself.</p>\\r\\n\\r\\n<p>For Map/TreeMap data structure, you may use <a href=\\\"http://www.grantjenks.com/docs/sortedcontainers/\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\">sortedcontainers</a> library.</p>\\r\\n\\r\\n<p>Note that Python 2.7 <a href=\\\"https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0373/\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\">will not be maintained past 2020</a>. For the latest Python, please choose Python3 instead.</p>\"], \"c\": [\"C\", \"<p>Compiled with <code>gcc 8.2</code> using the gnu11 standard.</p>\\r\\n\\r\\n<p>Your code is compiled with level one optimization (<code>-O1</code>). <a href=\\\"https://github.com/google/sanitizers/wiki/AddressSanitizer\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\">AddressSanitizer</a> is also enabled to help detect out-of-bounds and use-after-free bugs.</p>\\r\\n\\r\\n<p>Most standard library headers are already included automatically for your convenience.</p>\\r\\n\\r\\n<p>For hash table operations, you may use <a href=\\\"https://troydhanson.github.io/uthash/\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\">uthash</a>. \\\"uthash.h\\\" is included by default. Below are some examples:</p>\\r\\n\\r\\n<p><b>1. Adding an item to a hash.</b>\\r\\n<pre>\\r\\nstruct hash_entry {\\r\\n int id; /* we'll use this field as the key */\\r\\n char name[10];\\r\\n UT_hash_handle hh; /* makes this structure hashable */\\r\\n};\\r\\n\\r\\nstruct hash_entry *users = NULL;\\r\\n\\r\\nvoid add_user(struct hash_entry *s) {\\r\\n HASH_ADD_INT(users, id, s);\\r\\n}\\r\\n</pre>\\r\\n</p>\\r\\n\\r\\n<p><b>2. Looking up an item in a hash:</b>\\r\\n<pre>\\r\\nstruct hash_entry *find_user(int user_id) {\\r\\n struct hash_entry *s;\\r\\n HASH_FIND_INT(users, &user_id, s);\\r\\n return s;\\r\\n}\\r\\n</pre>\\r\\n</p>\\r\\n\\r\\n<p><b>3. Deleting an item in a hash:</b>\\r\\n<pre>\\r\\nvoid delete_user(struct hash_entry *user) {\\r\\n HASH_DEL(users, user); \\r\\n}\\r\\n</pre>\\r\\n</p>\"], \"csharp\": [\"C#\", \"<p><a href=\\\"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/whats-new/csharp-10\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\">C# 10 with .NET 6 runtime</a></p>\"], \"javascript\": [\"JavaScript\", \"<p><code>Node.js 16.13.2</code>.</p>\\r\\n\\r\\n<p>Your code is run with <code>--harmony</code> flag, enabling <a href=\\\"http://node.green/\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\">new ES6 features</a>.</p>\\r\\n\\r\\n<p><a href=\\\"https://lodash.com\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\">lodash.js</a> library is included by default.</p>\\r\\n\\r\\n<p>For Priority Queue / Queue data structures, you may use 5.3.0 version of <a href=\\\"https://github.com/datastructures-js/priority-queue/tree/fb4fdb984834421279aeb081df7af624d17c2a03\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\">datastructures-js/priority-queue</a> and 4.2.1 version of <a href=\\\"https://githu
