Solution: Simplify Path
Explore how to simplify Unix-style file system paths by implementing a stack-based approach. Learn to parse and process path components, handle special directory symbols, and construct canonical paths accurately, improving your problem-solving with stack data structures.
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Statement
Given an absolute path for a Unix-style file system (always beginning with '/'), transform it into its simplified canonical form.
The Unix-style file system follows these rules:
A single period
'.'represents the current directory.A double period
'..'represents the parent directory.Multiple consecutive slashes (e.g.,
'//'or'///') are treated as a single slash'/'.Any sequence of periods that does not match the above rules is treated as a valid directory or file name (e.g.,
'...'and'....'are valid names).
The resulting canonical path must satisfy the following:
It must begin with a single slash
'/'.Directories must be separated by exactly one slash
'/'.It must not end with a trailing slash
'/', unless it is the root directory. ...