Search Items by Prefix Query

EasyPython

Problem

Given a sorted list of lowercase strings items and a lowercase query string query, return all items that start with query. The result must preserve the original sorted order. Implement the search efficiently without scanning the entire list unless necessary.

Constraints

1 <= len(items) <= 10^5
0 <= len(query) <= 100
0 <= len(items[i]) <= 100
items is sorted in non-decreasing lexicographic order
All strings contain only lowercase English letters

Function Signature

def search_items(items, query):

CodePython 3

Run your code to see test output here.