Detect palindrome in string
Last updated: October 11, 2025
Quick Overview
Given a string, write a function to determine if it is a palindrome, meaning it reads the same forwards and backwards. The function should return a boolean value: true if the string is a palindrome and false otherwise. Consider only alphanumeric characters and ignore case sensitivity when making the determination.
Anthropic
October 11, 20257
12
3,585 solved
Given a string, write a function to determine if it is a palindrome, meaning it reads the same forwards and backwards. The function should return a boolean value: true if the string is a palindrome and false otherwise. Consider only alphanumeric characters and ignore case sensitivity when making the determination.
Coding interviews at Anthropic 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
- What is the worst-case input for your solution?
- Can you optimize the space complexity of your solution?
- How would you parallelize this solution?
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Problem Analysis
To determine if a string is a palindrome, we can utilize the two pointers technique. This approach involves placing one pointer at the beginning of the string and the other at the end, then compar...
Approach
- Sanitize the input: Filter out non-alphanumeric characters and convert the string to lowercase. For example, the string 'A man, a plan, a canal: Panama' becomes 'amanaplanacanalpanama'.
- **In...
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