10. Regular Expression Matching LeetCode Solution

In this guide we will provide 10. Regular Expression Matching LeetCode Solution with best time and space complexity. The solution to Regular Expression Matching problem is provided in various programming languages like C++, Java and python. This will be helpful for you if you are preparing for placements, hackathon, interviews or practice purposes. The solutions provided here are very easy to follow and with detailed explanations.

Table of Contents

10. Regular Expression Matching LeetCode Solution image

Problem Statement of Regular Expression Matching

Given an input string s and a pattern p, implement regular expression matching with support for ‘.’ and ‘*’ where:

‘.’ Matches any single character.​​​​
‘*’ Matches zero or more of the preceding element.

The matching should cover the entire input string (not partial).

Example 1:

Input: s = “aa”, p = “a”
Output: false
Explanation: “a” does not match the entire string “aa”.

Example 2:

Input: s = “aa”, p = “a*”
Output: true
Explanation: ‘*’ means zero or more of the preceding element, ‘a’. Therefore, by repeating ‘a’ once, it becomes “aa”.

Example 3:

Input: s = “ab”, p = “.*”
Output: true
Explanation: “.*” means “zero or more (*) of any character (.)”.

Constraints:

1 <= s.length <= 20
1 <= p.length <= 20
s contains only lowercase English letters.
p contains only lowercase English letters, '.', and '*'.
It is guaranteed for each appearance of the character '*', there will be a previous valid character to match.

Complexity Analysis

  • Time Complexity: O(mn)
  • Space Complexity: O(mn)

10. Regular Expression Matching LeetCode Solution in C++

class Solution {
 public:
  bool isMatch(string s, string p) {
    const int m = s.length();
    const int n = p.length();
    // dp[i][j] := true if s[0..i) matches p[0..j)
    vector<vector<bool>> dp(m + 1, vector<bool>(n + 1));
    dp[0][0] = true;

    auto isMatch = [&](int i, int j) -> bool {
      return j >= 0 && p[j] == '.' || s[i] == p[j];
    };

    for (int j = 0; j < p.length(); ++j)
      if (p[j] == '*' && dp[0][j - 1])
        dp[0][j + 1] = true;

    for (int i = 0; i < m; ++i)
      for (int j = 0; j < n; ++j)
        if (p[j] == '*') {
          // The minimum index of '*' is 1.
          const bool noRepeat = dp[i + 1][j - 1];
          const bool doRepeat = isMatch(i, j - 1) && dp[i][j + 1];
          dp[i + 1][j + 1] = noRepeat || doRepeat;
        } else if (isMatch(i, j)) {
          dp[i + 1][j + 1] = dp[i][j];
        }

    return dp[m][n];
  }
};
/* code provided by PROGIEZ */

10. Regular Expression Matching LeetCode Solution in Java

class Solution {
  public boolean isMatch(String s, String p) {
    final int m = s.length();
    final int n = p.length();
    // dp[i][j] := true if s[0..i) matches p[0..j)
    boolean[][] dp = new boolean[m + 1][n + 1];
    dp[0][0] = true;

    for (int j = 0; j < p.length(); ++j)
      if (p.charAt(j) == '*' && dp[0][j - 1])
        dp[0][j + 1] = true;

    for (int i = 0; i < m; ++i)
      for (int j = 0; j < n; ++j)
        if (p.charAt(j) == '*') {
          // The minimum index of '*' is 1.
          final boolean noRepeat = dp[i + 1][j - 1];
          final boolean doRepeat = isMatch(s, i, p, j - 1) && dp[i][j + 1];
          dp[i + 1][j + 1] = noRepeat || doRepeat;
        } else if (isMatch(s, i, p, j)) {
          dp[i + 1][j + 1] = dp[i][j];
        }

    return dp[m][n];
  }

  private boolean isMatch(final String s, int i, final String p, int j) {
    return j >= 0 && p.charAt(j) == '.' || s.charAt(i) == p.charAt(j);
  }
}
// code provided by PROGIEZ

10. Regular Expression Matching LeetCode Solution in Python

class Solution:
  def isMatch(self, s: str, p: str) -> bool:
    m = len(s)
    n = len(p)
    # dp[i][j] := True if s[0..i) matches p[0..j)
    dp = [[False] * (n + 1) for _ in range(m + 1)]
    dp[0][0] = True

    def isMatch(i: int, j: int) -> bool:
      return j >= 0 and p[j] == '.' or s[i] == p[j]

    for j, c in enumerate(p):
      if c == '*' and dp[0][j - 1]:
        dp[0][j + 1] = True

    for i in range(m):
      for j in range(n):
        if p[j] == '*':
          # The minimum index of '*' is 1.
          noRepeat = dp[i + 1][j - 1]
          doRepeat = isMatch(i, j - 1) and dp[i][j + 1]
          dp[i + 1][j + 1] = noRepeat or doRepeat
        elif isMatch(i, j):
          dp[i + 1][j + 1] = dp[i][j]

    return dp[m][n]
#code by PROGIEZ

Additional Resources

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