Detect anagram in linked list
Last updated: January 23, 2026
Quick Overview
Given a linked list of characters, determine if any two nodes in the list form an anagram of a specified string. The function should return true if an anagram exists within the linked list, and false otherwise. The input will be the head of the linked list and the target string, while the output will be a boolean value indicating the presence of an anagram.
Anthropic
January 23, 202610
14
4,812 solved
Given a linked list of characters, determine if any two nodes in the list form an anagram of a specified string. The function should return true if an anagram exists within the linked list, and false otherwise. The input will be the head of the linked list and the target string, while the output will be a boolean value indicating the presence of an anagram.
This coding problem is frequently asked during Technical Screen at Anthropic. The interviewer is testing your ability to translate a problem into clean, working code while discussing time and space complexity. Anthropic expects candidates to write production-quality code, not just solve the puzzle.
What the Interviewer Expects
- Identify the correct data structure and algorithm for the problem
- Write clean, bug-free code with proper variable naming
- Analyze time and space complexity correctly
- Handle basic edge cases (empty input, single element)
- Communicate your thought process while coding
Key Topics to Cover
How to Approach This
- Clarify input constraints and edge cases before writing code.
- Walk through your approach verbally and confirm with the interviewer before coding.
- Start with a brute force solution, then optimize. Mention time and space complexity.
- Test your solution with examples, including edge cases like empty input or duplicates.
- Consider common patterns: sliding window, two pointers, hash map, BFS/DFS, dynamic programming.
Possible Follow-up Questions
- Can you optimize the space complexity of your solution?
- Can you solve this iteratively instead of recursively (or vice versa)?
- How would you modify your solution to handle streaming input?
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Practice DSA ProblemsSample Answer
Problem Analysis
To determine if an anagram of a specified string exists within a linked list of characters, we should utilize a frequency counting approach. This is particularly applicable here because anagrams are d...
Approach
- First, we need to create a frequency dictionary for the characters in the target string. For example, if the target string is 'abc', our frequency dictionary will be {'a': 1, 'b': 1, 'c': 1}.
- Ne...
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