<p>There is only one character <code>&#39;A&#39;</code> on the screen of a notepad. You can perform one of two operations on this notepad for each step:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Copy All: You can copy all the characters present on the screen (a partial copy is not allowed).</li>
	<li>Paste: You can paste the characters which are copied last time.</li>
</ul>

<p>Given an integer <code>n</code>, return <em>the minimum number of operations to get the character</em> <code>&#39;A&#39;</code> <em>exactly</em> <code>n</code> <em>times on the screen</em>.</p>

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

<pre>
<strong>Input:</strong> n = 3
<strong>Output:</strong> 3
<strong>Explanation:</strong> Initially, we have one character &#39;A&#39;.
In step 1, we use Copy All operation.
In step 2, we use Paste operation to get &#39;AA&#39;.
In step 3, we use Paste operation to get &#39;AAA&#39;.
</pre>

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

<pre>
<strong>Input:</strong> n = 1
<strong>Output:</strong> 0
</pre>

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

<ul>
	<li><code>1 &lt;= n &lt;= 1000</code></li>
</ul>

class Solution:
    def minSteps(self, n: int) -> int:
        # 2 operations
        # copy all characters / paste
        # idea is that 'AA' is A, copy, paste vs. A A AA
        # have to copy first
        
        #guess i'll try my signature bfs solution..
        # maybe needs to be a priorty queue or heap...

        queue = [('A', '', 0, 'copy')]
        # do i even need a visited ??
        minimum = math.inf
        #queue.heapify()

        while queue:
            cur, cur_copy, num_op, prev_op = queue.pop(0)
            #print(cur, cur_copy, num_op, prev_op)

            # memory limit exceed??? do i need dfs

            if len(cur) == n:
                return num_op

            if len(cur) < n:

                if prev_op != 'nocopy':
                    queue.append((cur, cur, num_op+1, 'nocopy'))
                    #heapify.heappush()

                if prev_op != 'copy':
                    queue.append((cur+cur_copy, cur_copy, num_op+1, 'paste'))




        #print()
        return 0
29236