Introduction

In this blog post, we'll share the most commonly asked coding interview questions at Meta. If you don't have months to study for your interviews, you can use AI tools like Chatmagic to generate solutions quickly and efficiently - helping you pass the interviews and get the job offer!

Problem #1: Merge Sorted Array

You are given two integer arrays nums1 and nums2, sorted in non-decreasing order, and two integers m and n, representing the number of elements in nums1 and nums2 respectively. Merge nums1 and nums2 into a single array sorted in non-decreasing order. The final sorted array should not be returned by the function, but instead be stored inside the array nums1. To accommodate this, nums1 has a length of m + n, where the first m elements denote the elements that should be merged, and the last n elements are set to 0 and should be ignored. nums2 has a length of n. Example 1: Input: nums1 = [1,2,3,0,0,0], m = 3, nums2 = [2,5,6], n = 3 Output: [1,2,2,3,5,6] Explanation: The arrays we are merging are [1,2,3] and [2,5,6]. The result of the merge is [1,2,2,3,5,6] with the underlined elements coming from nums1. Example 2: Input: nums1 = [1], m = 1, nums2 = [], n = 0 Output: [1] Explanation: The arrays we are merging are [1] and []. The result of the merge is [1]. Example 3: Input: nums1 = [0], m = 0, nums2 = [1], n = 1 Output: [1] Explanation: The arrays we are merging are [] and [1]. The result of the merge is [1]. Note that because m = 0, there are no elements in nums1. The 0 is only there to ensure the merge result can fit in nums1. Constraints: nums1.length == m + n nums2.length == n 0 <= m, n <= 200 1 <= m + n <= 200 -109 <= nums1[i], nums2[j] <= 109 Follow up: Can you come up with an algorithm that runs in O(m + n) time?

Topics: Array, Two Pointers, Sorting

Problem #2: Find Peak Element

A peak element is an element that is strictly greater than its neighbors. Given a 0-indexed integer array nums, find a peak element, and return its index. If the array contains multiple peaks, return the index to any of the peaks. You may imagine that nums[-1] = nums[n] = -∞. In other words, an element is always considered to be strictly greater than a neighbor that is outside the array. You must write an algorithm that runs in O(log n) time. Example 1: Input: nums = [1,2,3,1] Output: 2 Explanation: 3 is a peak element and your function should return the index number 2. Example 2: Input: nums = [1,2,1,3,5,6,4] Output: 5 Explanation: Your function can return either index number 1 where the peak element is 2, or index number 5 where the peak element is 6. Constraints: 1 <= nums.length <= 1000 -231 <= nums[i] <= 231 - 1 nums[i] != nums[i + 1] for all valid i.

Topics: Array, Binary Search

Problem #3: Simplify Path

You are given an absolute path for a Unix-style file system, which always begins with a slash '/'. Your task is to transform this absolute path into its simplified canonical path. The rules of a Unix-style file system are as follows: A single period '.' represents the current directory. A double period '..' represents the previous/parent directory. Multiple consecutive slashes such as '//' and '///' are treated as a single slash '/'. Any sequence of periods that does not match the rules above should be treated as a valid directory or file name. For example, '...' and '....' are valid directory or file names. The simplified canonical path should follow these rules: The path must start with a single slash '/'. Directories within the path must be separated by exactly one slash '/'. The path must not end with a slash '/', unless it is the root directory. The path must not have any single or double periods ('.' and '..') used to denote current or parent directories. Return the simplified canonical path. Example 1: Input: path = "/home/" Output: "/home" Explanation: The trailing slash should be removed. Example 2: Input: path = "/home//foo/" Output: "/home/foo" Explanation: Multiple consecutive slashes are replaced by a single one. Example 3: Input: path = "/home/user/Documents/../Pictures" Output: "/home/user/Pictures" Explanation: A double period ".." refers to the directory up a level (the parent directory). Example 4: Input: path = "/../" Output: "/" Explanation: Going one level up from the root directory is not possible. Example 5: Input: path = "/.../a/../b/c/../d/./" Output: "/.../b/d" Explanation: "..." is a valid name for a directory in this problem. Constraints: 1 <= path.length <= 3000 path consists of English letters, digits, period '.', slash '/' or '_'. path is a valid absolute Unix path.

Topics: String, Stack

Problem #4: Pow(x, n)

Implement pow(x, n), which calculates x raised to the power n (i.e., xn). Example 1: Input: x = 2.00000, n = 10 Output: 1024.00000 Example 2: Input: x = 2.10000, n = 3 Output: 9.26100 Example 3: Input: x = 2.00000, n = -2 Output: 0.25000 Explanation: 2-2 = 1/22 = 1/4 = 0.25 Constraints: -100.0 < x < 100.0 -231 <= n <= 231-1 n is an integer. Either x is not zero or n > 0. -104 <= xn <= 104

Topics: Math, Recursion

Problem #5: Binary Tree Right Side View

Given the root of a binary tree, imagine yourself standing on the right side of it, return the values of the nodes you can see ordered from top to bottom. Example 1: Input: root = [1,2,3,null,5,null,4] Output: [1,3,4] Explanation: Example 2: Input: root = [1,2,3,4,null,null,null,5] Output: [1,3,4,5] Explanation: Example 3: Input: root = [1,null,3] Output: [1,3] Example 4: Input: root = [] Output: [] Constraints: The number of nodes in the tree is in the range [0, 100]. -100 <= Node.val <= 100

Topics: Tree, Depth-First Search, Breadth-First Search, Binary Tree

Problem #6: Valid Palindrome

A phrase is a palindrome if, after converting all uppercase letters into lowercase letters and removing all non-alphanumeric characters, it reads the same forward and backward. Alphanumeric characters include letters and numbers. Given a string s, return true if it is a palindrome, or false otherwise. Example 1: Input: s = "A man, a plan, a canal: Panama" Output: true Explanation: "amanaplanacanalpanama" is a palindrome. Example 2: Input: s = "race a car" Output: false Explanation: "raceacar" is not a palindrome. Example 3: Input: s = " " Output: true Explanation: s is an empty string "" after removing non-alphanumeric characters. Since an empty string reads the same forward and backward, it is a palindrome. Constraints: 1 <= s.length <= 2 * 105 s consists only of printable ASCII characters.

Topics: Two Pointers, String

Problem #7: Merge Intervals

Given an array of intervals where intervals[i] = [starti, endi], merge all overlapping intervals, and return an array of the non-overlapping intervals that cover all the intervals in the input. Example 1: Input: intervals = [[1,3],[2,6],[8,10],[15,18]] Output: [[1,6],[8,10],[15,18]] Explanation: Since intervals [1,3] and [2,6] overlap, merge them into [1,6]. Example 2: Input: intervals = [[1,4],[4,5]] Output: [[1,5]] Explanation: Intervals [1,4] and [4,5] are considered overlapping. Constraints: 1 <= intervals.length <= 104 intervals[i].length == 2 0 <= starti <= endi <= 104

Topics: Array, Sorting

Problem #8: Two Sum

Given an array of integers nums and an integer target, return indices of the two numbers such that they add up to target. You may assume that each input would have exactly one solution, and you may not use the same element twice. You can return the answer in any order. Example 1: Input: nums = [2,7,11,15], target = 9 Output: [0,1] Explanation: Because nums[0] + nums[1] == 9, we return [0, 1]. Example 2: Input: nums = [3,2,4], target = 6 Output: [1,2] Example 3: Input: nums = [3,3], target = 6 Output: [0,1] Constraints: 2 <= nums.length <= 104 -109 <= nums[i] <= 109 -109 <= target <= 109 Only one valid answer exists. Follow-up: Can you come up with an algorithm that is less than O(n2) time complexity?

Topics: Array, Hash Table

Problem #9: Sum Root to Leaf Numbers

You are given the root of a binary tree containing digits from 0 to 9 only. Each root-to-leaf path in the tree represents a number. For example, the root-to-leaf path 1 -> 2 -> 3 represents the number 123. Return the total sum of all root-to-leaf numbers. Test cases are generated so that the answer will fit in a 32-bit integer. A leaf node is a node with no children. Example 1: Input: root = [1,2,3] Output: 25 Explanation: The root-to-leaf path 1->2 represents the number 12. The root-to-leaf path 1->3 represents the number 13. Therefore, sum = 12 + 13 = 25. Example 2: Input: root = [4,9,0,5,1] Output: 1026 Explanation: The root-to-leaf path 4->9->5 represents the number 495. The root-to-leaf path 4->9->1 represents the number 491. The root-to-leaf path 4->0 represents the number 40. Therefore, sum = 495 + 491 + 40 = 1026. Constraints: The number of nodes in the tree is in the range [1, 1000]. 0 <= Node.val <= 9 The depth of the tree will not exceed 10.

Topics: Tree, Depth-First Search, Binary Tree

Problem #10: Copy List with Random Pointer

A linked list of length n is given such that each node contains an additional random pointer, which could point to any node in the list, or null. Construct a deep copy of the list. The deep copy should consist of exactly n brand new nodes, where each new node has its value set to the value of its corresponding original node. Both the next and random pointer of the new nodes should point to new nodes in the copied list such that the pointers in the original list and copied list represent the same list state. None of the pointers in the new list should point to nodes in the original list. For example, if there are two nodes X and Y in the original list, where X.random --> Y, then for the corresponding two nodes x and y in the copied list, x.random --> y. Return the head of the copied linked list. The linked list is represented in the input/output as a list of n nodes. Each node is represented as a pair of [val, random_index] where: val: an integer representing Node.val random_index: the index of the node (range from 0 to n-1) that the random pointer points to, or null if it does not point to any node. Your code will only be given the head of the original linked list. Example 1: Input: head = [[7,null],[13,0],[11,4],[10,2],[1,0]] Output: [[7,null],[13,0],[11,4],[10,2],[1,0]] Example 2: Input: head = [[1,1],[2,1]] Output: [[1,1],[2,1]] Example 3: Input: head = [[3,null],[3,0],[3,null]] Output: [[3,null],[3,0],[3,null]] Constraints: 0 <= n <= 1000 -104 <= Node.val <= 104 Node.random is null or is pointing to some node in the linked list.

Topics: Hash Table, Linked List