Write a function to convert a collection of strings into a single string and a function to convert it back.

Question

Liron · Accepted Answer

I would use an array of integer to represent to position of the space between two strings. package com.google.interview2;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collection;
import java.util.List;

public class ConvertCollToString {
	private static List spaces = new ArrayList();
	
	public static String convertCollToString(Collection words){
		spaces.clear();
		StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
		for (String s : words){
			sb.append(s);
			spaces.add(sb.length());
		}
		return sb.toString();
	}
	
	public static Collection convertStringToCollection(String s){
		Collection words = new ArrayList();
		int start = 0;
		for (Integer space : spaces){
			words.add(s.substring(start, space));
			start = space;
		}
		return words;
	}
	
	public static void main(String[] args){
		Collection words = new ArrayList();
		words.add("my");
		words.add("name");
		words.add("is");
		words.add("liron");
		String s = convertCollToString(words);
		System.out.println(s);
		words = convertStringToCollection(s);
		for (String str : words){
			System.out.println(str);
		}
	}
}

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