Find the Longest Run of One Character
Last updated: July 31, 2026
Quick Overview
The candidate is asked to write a function that finds the longest contiguous run of the same character in a given string.
Netflix
July 31, 20262
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The candidate is asked to write a function that finds the longest contiguous run of the same character in a given string.
This question is typically asked during the technical screen to evaluate the candidate's problem-solving skills and coding proficiency. The interviewer is looking for a clear understanding of string manipulation, algorithmic thinking, and the ability to write clean, efficient code. It also assesses how well the candidate can explain their thought process and handle edge cases.
What the Interviewer Expects
- Clearly explain the approach before coding.
- Handle edge cases such as empty strings or strings with no repeated characters.
- Provide a clean and efficient implementation.
- Discuss time and space complexity.
- Test the solution with different input cases.
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 you optimize your solution?
- What would you do if the input string were very large?
- Can you explain how your solution handles special characters?
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Practice DSA ProblemsSample Answer
Approach
To solve the problem, we will iterate through the string while keeping track of the current character and its count. We will compare this count with the maximum count found so far. If we encounter a d...
Algorithm
Here’s a simple implementation of the algorithm in Python:
def longest_run(s):
if not s:
return 0
max_count = 1
current_count = 1
for i in range(1, len(s)):
...
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