#103 Medium Time O(n²) Space O(1) Animated

Longest Palindromic Substring

Find the longest palindromic substring.

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1 Predict
2 Trace
3 Explain
4 Implement

Pattern Dynamic programming: reuse smaller answers

Define one state whose value fully solves a smaller version of the problem.

Approach: Expand Around Center

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Core Insight

Define one state whose value fully solves a smaller version of the problem.

Common Pitfall

Write the recurrence in words before optimizing the storage.

Description

Find the longest palindromic substring.

Constraints

Time Complexity: O(n²)
Space Complexity: O(1)

Solution — Expand Around Center

TimeO(n²) SpaceO(1)

Implementation Plan

Translate the invariant into these small, testable moves.

Define the state precisely.
Set base cases.
Fill states in dependency order.
Return the final state.

def longestPalindrome(s):
    res = ""
    resLen = 0
    
    for i in range(len(s)):
        # odd length
        l, r = i, i
        while l >= 0 and r < len(s) and s[l] == s[r]:
            if (r - l + 1) > resLen:
                res = s[l:r+1]
                resLen = r - l + 1
            l -= 1
            r += 1
            
        # even length
        l, r = i, i + 1
        while l >= 0 and r < len(s) and s[l] == s[r]:
            if (r - l + 1) > resLen:
                res = s[l:r+1]
                resLen = r - l + 1
            l -= 1
            r += 1
            
    return res

House Robber II

Palindromic Substrings

Longest Palindromic Substring

Steps

Description

Constraints

Tags

Solution — Expand Around Center