Word Ladder
<p>A <strong>transformation sequence</strong> from word <code>beginWord</code> to word <code>endWord</code> using a dictionary <code>wordList</code> is a sequence of words <code>beginWord -&gt; s<sub>1</sub> -&gt; s<sub>2</sub> -&gt; ... -&gt; s<sub>k</sub></code> such that:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Every adjacent pair of words differs by a single letter.</li>
	<li>Every <code>s<sub>i</sub></code> for <code>1 &lt;= i &lt;= k</code> is in <code>wordList</code>. Note that <code>beginWord</code> does not need to be in <code>wordList</code>.</li>
	<li><code>s<sub>k</sub> == endWord</code></li>
</ul>

<p>Given two words, <code>beginWord</code> and <code>endWord</code>, and a dictionary <code>wordList</code>, return <em>the <strong>number of words</strong> in the <strong>shortest transformation sequence</strong> from</em> <code>beginWord</code> <em>to</em> <code>endWord</code><em>, or </em><code>0</code><em> if no such sequence exists.</em></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong class="example">Example 1:</strong></p>

<pre>
<strong>Input:</strong> beginWord = &quot;hit&quot;, endWord = &quot;cog&quot;, wordList = [&quot;hot&quot;,&quot;dot&quot;,&quot;dog&quot;,&quot;lot&quot;,&quot;log&quot;,&quot;cog&quot;]
<strong>Output:</strong> 5
<strong>Explanation:</strong> One shortest transformation sequence is &quot;hit&quot; -&gt; &quot;hot&quot; -&gt; &quot;dot&quot; -&gt; &quot;dog&quot; -&gt; cog&quot;, which is 5 words long.
</pre>

<p><strong class="example">Example 2:</strong></p>

<pre>
<strong>Input:</strong> beginWord = &quot;hit&quot;, endWord = &quot;cog&quot;, wordList = [&quot;hot&quot;,&quot;dot&quot;,&quot;dog&quot;,&quot;lot&quot;,&quot;log&quot;]
<strong>Output:</strong> 0
<strong>Explanation:</strong> The endWord &quot;cog&quot; is not in wordList, therefore there is no valid transformation sequence.
</pre>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Constraints:</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li><code>1 &lt;= beginWord.length &lt;= 10</code></li>
	<li><code>endWord.length == beginWord.length</code></li>
	<li><code>1 &lt;= wordList.length &lt;= 5000</code></li>
	<li><code>wordList[i].length == beginWord.length</code></li>
	<li><code>beginWord</code>, <code>endWord</code>, and <code>wordList[i]</code> consist of lowercase English letters.</li>
	<li><code>beginWord != endWord</code></li>
	<li>All the words in <code>wordList</code> are <strong>unique</strong>.</li>
</ul>
Breadth-First Search; Hash Table; String
function ladderLength(beginWord: string, endWord: string, wordList: string[]): number {
    if (!wordList.includes(endWord)) return 0;

    const replace = (s: string, i: number, ch: string) => s.slice(0, i) + ch + s.slice(i + 1);
    const { length } = beginWord;
    const words: Record<string, string[]> = {};
    const g: Record<string, string[]> = {};

    for (const w of [beginWord, ...wordList]) {
        const derivatives: string[] = [];

        for (let i = 0; i < length; i++) {
            const nextW = replace(w, i, '*');
            derivatives.push(nextW);

            g[nextW] ??= [];
            g[nextW].push(w);
        }

        words[w] = derivatives;
    }

    let ans = 0;
    let q = words[beginWord];
    const vis = new Set<string>([beginWord]);

    while (q.length) {
        const nextQ: string[] = [];
        ans++;

        for (const variant of q) {
            for (const w of g[variant]) {
                if (w === endWord) return ans + 1;

                if (vis.has(w)) continue;
                vis.add(w);

                nextQ.push(...words[w]);
            }
        }

        q = nextQ;
    }

    return 0;
}
