Prefix Matching With Strings | Dataford Interview Questions

Credit Karma may need to filter search suggestions as a member types into the app. Given a search prefix and an array of suggestion strings, return every suggestion that starts with that prefix.

The comparison is case-sensitive. Preserve the original order and duplicate occurrences from suggestions. If prefix is empty, every suggestion matches. Do not modify the input array.

Formal Specification

Implement find_matching_suggestions(prefix, suggestions).

Input: prefix, a string, and suggestions, an array of strings.
Output: An array containing the matching suggestions in their original order.
A suggestion matches when suggestion.startswith(prefix) is True.

Constraints

0 <= len(prefix) <= 100
0 <= len(suggestions) <= 10^5
Each suggestion contains at most 10^3 characters
Suggestions may repeat
Return an empty array when no suggestion matches

Function Signature

def find_matching_suggestions(prefix, suggestions):

Your question is Prefix Matching With Strings. Start with the requirements in the Question tab.

Run and submit as often as you like. When you're ready, talk me through your approach or go straight to the code.

Problem