Detect anagram in string
Last updated: September 18, 2025
Quick Overview
Given a string and a pattern, determine if the string contains any anagrams of the pattern as a substring. The function should return true if an anagram is found and false otherwise. The input will consist of the main string and the pattern, both of which are non-empty.
Anduril
September 18, 2025208
11
1,946 solved
Given a string and a pattern, determine if the string contains any anagrams of the pattern as a substring. The function should return true if an anagram is found and false otherwise. The input will consist of the main string and the pattern, both of which are non-empty.
Coding interviews at Anduril focus on problem-solving approach as much as the final solution. The interviewer wants to see you break down the problem, consider edge cases, and optimize iteratively. Communication throughout the process is key.
What the Interviewer Expects
- Recognize the underlying problem pattern (sliding window, two pointers, BFS/DFS, etc.)
- Discuss multiple approaches and trade-offs before coding
- Implement an optimal solution with clean, production-quality code
- Handle all edge cases including boundary conditions and invalid input
- Optimize both time and space complexity with clear justification
- Test your solution systematically with well-chosen examples
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?
- How would your solution change if the input was sorted?
- What is the worst-case input for your solution?
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Problem Analysis
To determine if a string contains any anagrams of a given pattern, we can utilize the sliding window technique. This approach is effective here because we are looking for substrings of fixed length (t...
Approach
- Initialize Character Counts: Create a frequency count of characters in the pattern using a hashmap (or dictionary).
- Set Up a Sliding Window: Use two pointers to represent the current wi...
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