equalsWhenOneCharRemoved.py

def equalsWhenOneCharRemoved(x, y):
    if abs(len(x) - len(y)) != 1:
        return False
    if len(x) > len(y):
        x, y = y, x

    i = padding = 0
    while i < len(x) and i + padding < len(y):
        if x[i] == y[i + padding]:
            i = i + 1
        else:
            padding += 1

    if i == len(x) and padding < 2:
        return True
    return False


assert equalsWhenOneCharRemoved("x", "y") is False
assert equalsWhenOneCharRemoved("x", "XX") is False
assert equalsWhenOneCharRemoved("yy", "yx") is False

assert equalsWhenOneCharRemoved("abcd", "abxcd") is True
assert equalsWhenOneCharRemoved("xyz", "xz") is True
assert equalsWhenOneCharRemoved("xyz", "xy") is True
assert equalsWhenOneCharRemoved("yxz", "xz") is True