<p>Given a string <code>s</code>, remove duplicate letters so that every letter appears once and only once. You must make sure your result is <span data-keyword="lexicographically-smaller-string"><strong>the smallest in lexicographical order</strong></span> among all possible results.</p>

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

<pre>
<strong>Input:</strong> s = &quot;bcabc&quot;
<strong>Output:</strong> &quot;abc&quot;
</pre>

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

<pre>
<strong>Input:</strong> s = &quot;cbacdcbc&quot;
<strong>Output:</strong> &quot;acdb&quot;
</pre>

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

<ul>
	<li><code>1 &lt;= s.length &lt;= 10<sup>4</sup></code></li>
	<li><code>s</code> consists of lowercase English letters.</li>
</ul>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Note:</strong> This question is the same as 1081: <a href="https://leetcode.com/problems/smallest-subsequence-of-distinct-characters/" target="_blank">https://leetcode.com/problems/smallest-subsequence-of-distinct-characters/</a></p>

class Solution:
    def removeDuplicateLetters(self, s: str) -> str:
        counts = Counter(s)
        pos = 0
        
        for i in range(len(s)):
            if s[i] < s[pos]:
                pos = i
            
            counts[s[i]] -= 1
            
            if counts[s[i]] == 0:
                break
        
        return s[pos] + self.removeDuplicateLetters(s[pos:].replace(s[pos], "")) if s else ''
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