I think there is a better way
package se.wederbrand.stackoverflow;
public class KPalindrome {
public static void main(String[] args) {
KPalindrome kPalindrome = new KPalindrome();
String s = args[0];
int k = Integer.parseInt(args[1]);
if (kPalindrome.testIt(s, k)) {
System.out.println("YES");
}
else {
System.out.println("NO");
}
}
boolean testIt(String s, int k) {
if (s.length() <= 1) {
return true;
}
while (s.charAt(0) == s.charAt(s.length()-1)) {
s = s.substring(1, s.length()-1);
if (s.length() <= 1) {
return true;
}
}
if (k == 0) {
return false;
}
// Try to remove the first or last character
return testIt(s.substring(0, s.length() - 1), k - 1) || testIt(s.substring(1, s.length()), k - 1);
}
}
Since K is max 30 it's likely the string can be invalidated pretty quick and without even examining the middle of the string.
I've tested this with the two provided test cases as well as a 20k characters long string with just "ab" 10k times and k = 30;
All tests are fast and returns the correct results.