Find the longest palindromic substring
Problem Description
Given a string s, the task is to find the longest contiguous substring within s that is a palindrome. A palindrome is a sequence of characters that reads the same forwards and backwards.
Input
The input is a single string s.
sconsists of standard printable ASCII letters and digits.
Output
Return any one of the longest palindromic substrings found. If multiple substrings share the same maximum length, any of them is a valid answer.
Constraints
- The length of the string
s(|s|) is between 1 and 2000, inclusive.
Examples
- Input:
"babad"Output:"bab"(or"aba") - Input:
"cbbd"Output:"bb"
Interview Notes
Candidates should be prepared to verbally explain their proposed approach, including its time and space complexity, and discuss relevant edge cases. Actual code implementation may not be required.
AI interview prep
Core dilemma
The central engineering conflict is efficiently identifying and verifying all potential palindromic substrings within the given constraints, optimizing for time and space complexity while ensuring correctness for various edge cases. The 'EASY' difficulty is a misdirection; the true test is the depth of algorithmic understanding and ability to articulate trade-offs.
3 tradeoffs and 3 stress tests locked
Interview prep
Unlock the interviewer X-Ray rubric, tradeoff matrix, stress tests, clarifying questions, and key concepts.
Find the longest palindromic substring
Problem Description
Given a string s, the task is to find the longest contiguous substring within s that is a palindrome. A palindrome is a sequence of characters that reads the same forwards and backwards.
Input
The input is a single string s.
sconsists of standard printable ASCII letters and digits.
Output
Return any one of the longest palindromic substrings found. If multiple substrings share the same maximum length, any of them is a valid answer.
Constraints
- The length of the string
s(|s|) is between 1 and 2000, inclusive.
Examples
- Input:
"babad"Output:"bab"(or"aba") - Input:
"cbbd"Output:"bb"
Interview Notes
Candidates should be prepared to verbally explain their proposed approach, including its time and space complexity, and discuss relevant edge cases. Actual code implementation may not be required.