Introduction

In this blog post, we'll share the most commonly asked coding interview questions at Expedia. 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: Remove Duplicate Letters

Given a string s, remove duplicate letters so that every letter appears once and only once. You must make sure your result is the smallest in lexicographical order among all possible results. Example 1: Input: s = "bcabc" Output: "abc" Example 2: Input: s = "cbacdcbc" Output: "acdb" Constraints: 1 <= s.length <= 104 s consists of lowercase English letters. Note: This question is the same as 1081: https://leetcode.com/problems/smallest-subsequence-of-distinct-characters/

Topics: String, Stack, Greedy, Monotonic Stack

Problem #2: Roman to Integer

Roman numerals are represented by seven different symbols: I, V, X, L, C, D and M. Symbol Value I 1 V 5 X 10 L 50 C 100 D 500 M 1000 For example, 2 is written as II in Roman numeral, just two ones added together. 12 is written as XII, which is simply X + II. The number 27 is written as XXVII, which is XX + V + II. Roman numerals are usually written largest to smallest from left to right. However, the numeral for four is not IIII. Instead, the number four is written as IV. Because the one is before the five we subtract it making four. The same principle applies to the number nine, which is written as IX. There are six instances where subtraction is used: I can be placed before V (5) and X (10) to make 4 and 9. X can be placed before L (50) and C (100) to make 40 and 90. C can be placed before D (500) and M (1000) to make 400 and 900. Given a roman numeral, convert it to an integer. Example 1: Input: s = "III" Output: 3 Explanation: III = 3. Example 2: Input: s = "LVIII" Output: 58 Explanation: L = 50, V= 5, III = 3. Example 3: Input: s = "MCMXCIV" Output: 1994 Explanation: M = 1000, CM = 900, XC = 90 and IV = 4. Constraints: 1 <= s.length <= 15 s contains only the characters ('I', 'V', 'X', 'L', 'C', 'D', 'M'). It is guaranteed that s is a valid roman numeral in the range [1, 3999].

Topics: Hash Table, Math, String

Problem #3: Trapping Rain Water

Given n non-negative integers representing an elevation map where the width of each bar is 1, compute how much water it can trap after raining. Example 1: Input: height = [0,1,0,2,1,0,1,3,2,1,2,1] Output: 6 Explanation: The above elevation map (black section) is represented by array [0,1,0,2,1,0,1,3,2,1,2,1]. In this case, 6 units of rain water (blue section) are being trapped. Example 2: Input: height = [4,2,0,3,2,5] Output: 9 Constraints: n == height.length 1 <= n <= 2 * 104 0 <= height[i] <= 105

Topics: Array, Two Pointers, Dynamic Programming, Stack, Monotonic Stack

Problem #4: 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 #5: Find the Index of the First Occurrence in a String

Given two strings needle and haystack, return the index of the first occurrence of needle in haystack, or -1 if needle is not part of haystack. Example 1: Input: haystack = "sadbutsad", needle = "sad" Output: 0 Explanation: "sad" occurs at index 0 and 6. The first occurrence is at index 0, so we return 0. Example 2: Input: haystack = "leetcode", needle = "leeto" Output: -1 Explanation: "leeto" did not occur in "leetcode", so we return -1. Constraints: 1 <= haystack.length, needle.length <= 104 haystack and needle consist of only lowercase English characters.

Topics: Two Pointers, String, String Matching

Problem #6: Valid Parentheses

Given a string s containing just the characters '(', ')', '{', '}', '[' and ']', determine if the input string is valid. An input string is valid if: Open brackets must be closed by the same type of brackets. Open brackets must be closed in the correct order. Every close bracket has a corresponding open bracket of the same type. Example 1: Input: s = "()" Output: true Example 2: Input: s = "()[]{}" Output: true Example 3: Input: s = "(]" Output: false Example 4: Input: s = "([])" Output: true Constraints: 1 <= s.length <= 104 s consists of parentheses only '()[]{}'.

Topics: String, Stack