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This approach utilizes a stack data structure to process the path components. By splitting the path on the '/' character, we collect the different components of the path. Using a stack helps efficiently manage directory movement due to '..'. For every directory name, it is pushed to the stack, for '..' we pop from the stack, and '.' is simply ignored. After processing all components, we join the names in the stack with '/' to form the simplified canonical path.
Time Complexity: O(N) where N is the length of the path string, as we perform operations linearly along the string.
Space Complexity: O(N) because we use a stack that can contain each part of the path in the worst case.
1#include <stdio.h>
2#include <string.h>
3#include <stdlib.h>
4
5char *simplifyPath(char *path) {
6 char **stack = (char **)malloc(3010 * sizeof(char *));
7 int stackSize = 0;
8 char delim[] = "/";
9 char *token = strtok(path, delim);
10
11 while (token != NULL) {
12 if (strcmp(token, "..") == 0) {
13 if (stackSize > 0) {
14 stackSize--;
15 }
16 } else if (strcmp(token, ".") != 0 && strlen(token) != 0) {
17 stack[stackSize++] = token;
18 }
19 token = strtok(NULL, delim);
20 }
21
22 if (stackSize == 0) {
23 return "/";
24 }
25
26 char *result = (char *)malloc(3000 * sizeof(char));
27 result[0] = '\0';
28 for (int i = 0; i < stackSize; i++) {
29 strcat(result, "/");
30 strcat(result, stack[i]);
31 }
32 return result;
33}The C implementation uses an array of strings as a stack to track directory parts. We split the path using '/' as a delimiter with the help of 'strtok'. For non-current ('.') and non-parent ('..') directory names, they are pushed to our stack. When '..' is encountered, we pop from the stack if the stack isn't empty. Lastly, we rebuild the canonical path by joining stack elements prefixed with '/'.
This approach optimizes the simplification process using string handling techniques without explicitly using stack structures. It involves maintaining a result string directly, with an index pointer to simulate stack behavior. Iterating over path components allows addition, removal, or skipping of segments based on path rules, with a focus on reducing stack overhead. Finally, the result string is reconstructed as the simplified path.
Time Complexity: O(N) as parsing occurs once through entire path.
Space Complexity: O(N) utilized for the resultant path string (no explicit stack).
1
The Python method uses a list directly for path components, processing path similarly to the stack approach but more within a string context for simplicity. It maximizes single traversal efficiency to shape canonical path with string methods.