038 Count and Say.py

'''
The count-and-say sequence is the sequence of integers beginning as follows:
1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221, ...

1 is read off as "one 1" or 11.
11 is read off as "two 1s" or 21.
21 is read off as "one 2, then one 1" or 1211.
Given an integer n, generate the nth sequence.

Note: The sequence of integers will be represented as a string.
'''

class Solution(object):
    def countAndSay(self, n):
        """
        :type n: int
        :rtype: str
        """
        result = "1"
        for __ in range(1, n):
            result = self.getNext(result)
        return result

    def getNext(self, s):
        result = []
        start = 0
        while start < len(s):
            curr = start + 1
            while curr < len(s) and s[start] == s[curr]:
                curr += 1
            result.extend((str(curr - start), s[start]))
            start = curr
        return "".join(result)