Detect anagram in matrix
Last updated: August 6, 2025
Quick Overview
Given a 2D matrix of characters, write a function to detect all occurrences of anagrams of a given string within the matrix. The function should return the starting coordinates (row, column) of each found anagram in the matrix. The search should consider horizontal and vertical directions only.
ServiceNow
August 6, 20254
3
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Given a 2D matrix of characters, write a function to detect all occurrences of anagrams of a given string within the matrix. The function should return the starting coordinates (row, column) of each found anagram in the matrix. The search should consider horizontal and vertical directions only.
ServiceNow uses this problem in the Phone Screen to evaluate your algorithmic thinking. They expect you to discuss multiple approaches, analyze trade-offs between them, and implement the optimal solution with clean, readable code.
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
- How would your solution change if the input was sorted?
- Can you solve this iteratively instead of recursively (or vice versa)?
- How would you test this solution thoroughly?
- How would you modify your solution to handle streaming input?
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Practice DSA ProblemsSample Answer
Problem Analysis
To detect anagrams of a given string in a 2D matrix of characters, we can utilize a combination of hash maps and searching techniques. The key observation is that two strings are anagrams if they cont...
Approach
- Character Frequency Map: Create a frequency map (dictionary) for the characters in the target string. For example, for the target string 'abc', the frequency map would be: {'a': 1, 'b': 1, 'c':...
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