Is Defanging an IP Address easy or hard?

Defanging an IP Address is categorized as an Easy problem. It focuses on basic string manipulation and recognizing when a built-in replace function solves the task in a single pass.

Defanging an IP Address Python/Java solution

In Python, use address.replace('.', '[.]'). In Java, use address.replace('.', '[.]') or replace(".", "[.]"). Both implementations scan the string once and return a new string with the defanged format.

How to solve Defanging an IP Address in O(n)?

Traverse the string once and replace every '.' with '[.]'. This can be done using a built-in replace method or by building a result string while iterating through characters. Since each character is processed once, the runtime remains O(n).

What is the best approach for Defanging an IP Address?

The most efficient and clean approach uses a built-in string replace function to substitute '.' with '[.]'. It processes the string once, giving O(n) time complexity and O(n) space for the new output string. This approach keeps the code short and leverages optimized standard library functions.

Is Defanging an IP Address asked at Google/Amazon/Meta?

Problems like Defanging an IP Address appear in interview preparation sets and practice platforms because they test basic string manipulation skills. While the exact question is more common in screening rounds or coding practice, similar string transformation tasks frequently appear in big tech interviews.

What data structure is used in Defanging an IP Address?

The primary data structure is a string. Some implementations also use a mutable buffer such as a StringBuilder, list, or character array to construct the result efficiently while iterating through the input.

What is the time complexity of Defanging an IP Address?

The time complexity is O(n), where n is the length of the IP address string. Each character is inspected once either by the replace function or by manual iteration. The algorithm performs a single pass through the string.

1108. Defanging an IP Address - Practice Online

Given a valid (IPv4) IP address, return a defanged version of that IP address.

A defanged IP address replaces every period "." with "[.]".

Example 1:

Input: address = "1.1.1.1"
Output: "1[.]1[.]1[.]1"

Example 2:

Input: address = "255.100.50.0"
Output: "255[.]100[.]50[.]0"

Constraints:

The given address is a valid IPv4 address.