Skip to content

591. Tag Validator

Difficulty Topics

Description

Given a string representing a code snippet, implement a tag validator to parse the code and return whether it is valid.

A code snippet is valid if all the following rules hold:

  1. The code must be wrapped in a valid closed tag. Otherwise, the code is invalid.
  2. A closed tag (not necessarily valid) has exactly the following format : <TAG_NAME>TAG_CONTENT</TAG_NAME>. Among them, <TAG_NAME> is the start tag, and </TAG_NAME> is the end tag. The TAG_NAME in start and end tags should be the same. A closed tag is valid if and only if the TAG_NAME and TAG_CONTENT are valid.
  3. A valid TAG_NAME only contain upper-case letters, and has length in range [1,9]. Otherwise, the TAG_NAME is invalid.
  4. A valid TAG_CONTENT may contain other valid closed tags, cdata and any characters (see note1) EXCEPT unmatched <, unmatched start and end tag, and unmatched or closed tags with invalid TAG_NAME. Otherwise, the TAG_CONTENT is invalid.
  5. A start tag is unmatched if no end tag exists with the same TAG_NAME, and vice versa. However, you also need to consider the issue of unbalanced when tags are nested.
  6. A < is unmatched if you cannot find a subsequent >. And when you find a < or </, all the subsequent characters until the next > should be parsed as TAG_NAME (not necessarily valid).
  7. The cdata has the following format : <![CDATA[CDATA_CONTENT]]>. The range of CDATA_CONTENT is defined as the characters between <![CDATA[ and the first subsequent ]]>.
  8. CDATA_CONTENT may contain any characters. The function of cdata is to forbid the validator to parse CDATA_CONTENT, so even it has some characters that can be parsed as tag (no matter valid or invalid), you should treat it as regular characters.

 

Example 1:

Input: code = "<DIV>This is the first line <![CDATA[<div>]]></DIV>"
Output: true
Explanation: 
The code is wrapped in a closed tag : <DIV> and </DIV>. 
The TAG_NAME is valid, the TAG_CONTENT consists of some characters and cdata. 
Although CDATA_CONTENT has an unmatched start tag with invalid TAG_NAME, it should be considered as plain text, not parsed as a tag.
So TAG_CONTENT is valid, and then the code is valid. Thus return true.

Example 2:

Input: code = "<DIV>>>  ![cdata[]] <![CDATA[<div>]>]]>]]>>]</DIV>"
Output: true
Explanation:
We first separate the code into : start_tag|tag_content|end_tag.
start_tag -> "<DIV>"
end_tag -> "</DIV>"
tag_content could also be separated into : text1|cdata|text2.
text1 -> ">>  ![cdata[]] "
cdata -> "<![CDATA[<div>]>]]>", where the CDATA_CONTENT is "<div>]>"
text2 -> "]]>>]"
The reason why start_tag is NOT "<DIV>>>" is because of the rule 6.
The reason why cdata is NOT "<![CDATA[<div>]>]]>]]>" is because of the rule 7.

Example 3:

Input: code = "<A>  <B> </A>   </B>"
Output: false
Explanation: Unbalanced. If "<A>" is closed, then "<B>" must be unmatched, and vice versa.

 

Constraints:

  • 1 <= code.length <= 500
  • code consists of English letters, digits, '<', '>', '/', '!', '[', ']', '.', and ' '.

Solution