Bloomberg LP Interview Question for Interns


Country: United States
Interview Type: Phone Interview




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0
of 0 vote

def validateStr(s):
    braces = {'(':')', '[':']', '{':'}', '<':'>'}
    
    closing = [v for _,v in braces.items()]
    
    stack = []
    for c in s:
        if c in braces:
            stack.append(braces[c])
        elif c in closing:
            if len(stack) and c == stack[-1]:
                del stack[-1]
            else:
                print("%-15s\tInvalid. Unpaired %c"%(s,c))
                return False
    if len(stack):
        print("%-15s\tInvalid. Not closed braces: %s"%(s,"".join(stack)))
        return False
    print("%-15s\tok"%(s))
    return True

validateStr("([<>])")
validateStr("([<")
validateStr(")([<>])(")
validateStr("([)]")
validateStr("([<!#%^&>])")

Output:

([<>])         	ok
([<            	Invalid. Not closed braces: )]>
)([<>])(       	Invalid. Unpaired )
([)]           	Invalid. Unpaired )
([<!#%^&>])    	ok

- Diana.Savvatina November 05, 2018 | Flag Reply
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import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

public class Test {
    static List<String> validList=new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList("<",">","{","}","[","]","(",")"));
public static void main(String [] args){
String s="(({[<>]}))";

    char [] chars =s.toCharArray();
    String b="";
    boolean isValid=true;
    for(int i=0;i<chars.length/2;i++){
        b=Character.toString(chars[i])+Character.toString(chars[chars.length-i-1]);
        if(!isValidBracketPair(b)){
            isValid=false;
            break;
        }
    }

    if(s.length()%2!=0){
        char middle=chars[s.length()/2+1];
        if(validList.contains(Character.toString(middle))){
            isValid=false;
        }
    }
    System.out.println("result of " + s + " "+ isValid);
}


public static boolean isValidBracketPair(String b){
    List<String> validList= new ArrayList<>();
    validList.add("{}");
    validList.add("[]");
    validList.add("()");
    validList.add("<>");
    return validList.contains(b) || isNotBracket(Character.toString(b.charAt(0)),Character.toString(b.charAt(1)));
}

    public static boolean isNotBracket(String a, String b){
   return  ! validList.contains(a) && ! validList.contains(b);

    }

}

- Akib November 07, 2018 | Flag Reply
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of 0 vote

This is how I'd do it
1 push on (,{,[,<
2 pop on ),},],>
compare popped value
the fail conditions are
1 no opening brace
2 opening brace not matching with closing brace
3 unsatisfied opening braces
the success condition would be all braces matching in the right order
i.e stack empty at end

public class BracketChk {
    static Stack<Character> stack = new Stack<>();
    
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.print("Enter the String with brackets : ");
        String input = (new Scanner(System.in)).nextLine();
        try {
            for (int i = 0; i < input.length(); i++) {
                System.out.println(stack.toString());
                char c = input.charAt(i);
                boolean flag = true;
                switch (c) {
                    case '(': case '{': case '[': case '<':
                        stack.push(c);
                        break;
                    case ')': case '}': case ']': case '>':
                        char o = stack.pop(); // closing brace not having any opening brace
                                              // throws exception
                        switch (c) {
                            case ')':
                                if (o != '(') flag = false;
                                break;
                            case '}':
                                if (o != '{') flag = false;
                                break;
                            case ']':
                                if (o != '[') flag = false;
                                break;
                            case '>':
                                if (o != '<') flag = false;
                                break;
                        }
                }
                if (!flag) throw new EmptyStackException(); // opening and closing brace not matching
            }
            if (stack.size() > 0) throw new EmptyStackException(); // more opening braces
            System.out.println("Successful : Brackets balanced!!"); // all braces match
        }
        catch (EmptyStackException e) {
            System.out.println("Unsuccessful : Brackets not balanced");
        }
    }
}

- PeyarTheriyaa November 08, 2018 | Flag Reply
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of 0 vote

Like others mentioned using a stack and a dictionary of open and close characters this is trivial to implement. O(n) Python 3 implementation:

def validate_string(s, brackets_dict):
    stack = []
    open_bracket = set(brackets_dict.keys())
    close_bracket = set(brackets_dict.values())
    open = False
    for char in s:
        if not open:
            if char in close_bracket:
                return False
            open = True
            stack.append(brackets_dict[char])
        else:
            if char in open_bracket:
                stack.append(brackets_dict[char])
            else:
                if not char == stack.pop():
                    return False
                if len(stack) == 0:
                    open = False

    return True


if __name__ == '__main__':
    s = '{{[]}}'
    validate_string(s, {'{': '}', '[': ']'})

- sjjpo2002 November 09, 2018 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

Python - O(n) solution.

def validParentheses(s):
    d = {')': '(', '}': '{', ']': '['}
    stack = []

    for i in s:
        if i not in d:
            stack.append(i)
        else:
            if len(stack) > 0:
                temp = stack.pop()
            else:
                temp = '#'

            if d[i] != temp:
                return False

    if len(stack) == 0:
        return True
    else:
        return False

Edit the dictionary for different kinds of opening and closing tags.

- Ron June 21, 2019 | Flag Reply


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