Validate Security Certificate Format | Dataford Interview Questions

At AegisCloud, certificate identifiers must follow a strict string format before they can be processed. Implement a function that returns True if a certificate string is valid and False otherwise.

Rules

A certificate string is valid if all of the following are true:

It contains exactly three non-empty segments separated by colons: header:payload:signature.
Each segment contains only uppercase letters (A-Z), digits (0-9), and the delimiter characters (, ), [, ], {, }.
Across the entire string, all delimiters are balanced and properly nested.
The string must not start or end with a colon, and it must not contain consecutive colons.

Formal Specification

Input: cert, a string
Output: bool — whether the certificate format is valid

Constraints

1 <= len(cert) <= 10^5
The input string contains ASCII characters
A valid certificate must contain exactly two colons
Each of the three segments must be non-empty

Function Signature

def validate_certificate(cert):

Your question is Validate Security Certificate Format. 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