Anonymous

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
	int first_digit[10] ={-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1};
	int last_digit[10] ={-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1};
	char *numberstring = argv[1]; 
	int j;
	int nextdigit;
	for (j=0;j<strlen(numberstring);j++) {
		nextdigit = (int)(numberstring[j])-48; /* 48 = ascii 0*/
		if (first_digit[nextdigit] > -1) {
			last_digit[nextdigit] = j;
		} else {
			first_digit[nextdigit] = j;
		}
	}
	int i;
	int maxdist =0;
	for(i=1;i<=9;i++) 
		maxdist =(maxdist<last_digit[i]-first_digit[i])?last_digit[i]-first_digit[i]:maxdist;
	/* we are off by one in this calculation, let's cheat and decrement our output */	
	printf("%d\n", maxdist-1); 
}