Grokking the Coding Interview: Patterns for Coding Questions
Ask Author
Back to course home

0% completed

Vote For New Content
Problem 6: Simplify Path (medium)
Table of Contents

Contents are not accessible

Contents are not accessible

Contents are not accessible

Contents are not accessible

Contents are not accessible

Problem Statement

Given an absolute file path in a Unix-style file system, simplify it by converting ".." to the previous directory and removing any "." or multiple slashes. The resulting string should represent the shortest absolute path.

Examples

Example 1

  • Input: path = "/a//b////c/d//././/.."
  • Expected Output: "/a/b/c"
  • Explanation:
    • Convert multiple slashes (//) into single slashes (/).
    • "." refers to the current directory and is ignored.
    • ".." moves up one directory, so "d" is removed.
    • The simplified path is "/a/b/c".

Example 2

  • Input: path = "/../"
  • Expected Output: "/"
  • Explanation:
    • ".." moves up one directory, but we are already at the root ("/"), so nothing happens.
    • The final simplified path remains "/".

Example 3

  • Input: path = "/home//foo/"
  • Expected Output: "/home/foo"
  • Explanation:
    • Convert multiple slashes (//) into single slashes (/).
    • The final simplified path is "/home/foo".

Constraints:

  • 1 <= path.length <= 3000
  • path consists of English letters, digits, period '.', slash '/' or '_'.
  • path is a valid absolute Unix path.

Try it yourself

Try solving this question here:

Python3
Python3
. . . .

.....

.....

.....

Like the course? Get enrolled and start learning!

Table of Contents

Contents are not accessible

Contents are not accessible

Contents are not accessible

Contents are not accessible

Contents are not accessible