import string with open("input5.txt") as f: line = f.read().rstrip() def react(line): while True: previous_length = len(line) for letter in string.ascii_lowercase: bi1 = letter + chr(ord(letter) ^ 0x20) bi2 = bi1[::-1] line = line.replace(bi1, "") line = line.replace(bi2, "") if len(line) == previous_length: return line print(len(react(line))) print(min( len(react(line.replace(letter, "").replace(chr(ord(letter) ^ 0x20), ""))) for letter in string.ascii_letters ))