Shortest and Lexicographically Smallest Beautiful String — Python

# Time:  O(n^2)
# Space: O(1)

# two pointers, sliding window
class Solution(object):
    def shortestBeautifulSubstring(self, s, k):
        """
        :type s: str
        :type k: int
        :rtype: str
        """
        def check(r1, r2):
            if r1[1]-r1[0]+1 > r2[1]-r2[0]+1:
                return False
            if r1[1]-r1[0]+1 < r2[1]-r2[0]+1:
                return True
            for i, j in itertools.izip(xrange(r1[0], r1[1]+1), xrange(r2[0], r2[1]+1)):
                if s[i] != s[j]:
                    return s[i] < s[j]
            return False
    
        result = []
        left = curr = 0
        for right in xrange(len(s)):
            curr += s[right] == '1'
            while curr == k+1:
                curr -= s[left] == '1'
                left += 1
            while left < len(s) and s[left] == '0':
                left += 1
            if curr == k:
                if not result or check([left, right], result):
                    result = [left, right]
        return s[result[0]:result[1]+1] if result else ""