Katkat
Back

Filter hierarchical paths after deletions

SnowflakeSoftware Engineer · Technical Screen
MediumSoftware EngineerTechnical ScreenCoding & Algorithms

Last updated

This question evaluates proficiency in hierarchical string processing, prefix-based filtering, edge-case handling (duplicates, trailing slashes, empty inputs), data-structure selection, and algorithmic time/space complexity analysis within the Coding & Algorithms domain, emphasizing practical implementation over purely conceptual reasoning.

Given two arrays: (

  1. paths — slash-delimited hierarchical strings such as "California", "California/San Francisco", "California/San Francisco/7th Street"; and (
  2. deletes — paths to remove such as "California/San Francisco". Remove every path that is equal to or a descendant of any path in deletes, and return the remaining paths (order your choice). Design an efficient solution (e.g., Trie or sorting plus prefix-skipping), handle edge cases (duplicates, overlapping deletes, trailing slashes, empty arrays), and analyze time and space complexity. Implement the core function.