Validate interval list complete
Last updated: November 18, 2025
Quick Overview
Given a list of intervals, write a function to validate if the intervals are complete, meaning that there are no gaps between consecutive intervals when they are merged. The input will be a list of intervals represented as pairs of integers, and the output should be a boolean indicating whether the intervals form a complete range without any overlaps or gaps.
Splunk
November 18, 20257
15
4,282 solved
Given a list of intervals, write a function to validate if the intervals are complete, meaning that there are no gaps between consecutive intervals when they are merged. The input will be a list of intervals represented as pairs of integers, and the output should be a boolean indicating whether the intervals form a complete range without any overlaps or gaps.
This coding problem is frequently asked during Technical Screen at Splunk. The interviewer is testing your ability to translate a problem into clean, working code while discussing time and space complexity. Splunk expects candidates to write production-quality code, not just solve the puzzle.
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
- How would you parallelize this solution?
- How would you modify your solution to handle streaming input?
- What happens if the input contains duplicates?
- What if the input doesn't fit in memory?
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Problem Analysis
To determine if the intervals are complete, we need to check if there are any gaps between the intervals after merging them. This problem can be approached using the sorting technique followed by a li...
Approach
- Sort the Intervals: First, sort the list of intervals based on the start time. For example, if the input is
[[1, 3], [2, 4], [5, 7]], after sorting, it will remain the same because it is alre...
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