205. Isomorphic Strings

LeetCode problem 205

Use two dictionaries to track the mappings from s to t and from t to s. This helps in ensuring no two characters map to the same character.

• Key Idea: To verify if two strings are isomorphic, we need to ensure that each character in s maps to a unique character in t, and vice versa. This bi-directional mapping is crucial to maintain the isomorphism property.
• Data Structures: Two hash maps (or dictionaries in Python) are ideal for maintaining these mappings efficiently.

Approach

1. Initial Checks: If the lengths of s and t are different, they cannot be isomorphic. Return false immediately.
2. Create Two Mappings: Initialize two dictionaries. One for mapping characters from s to t (s_to_t) and another from t to s (t_to_s).
3. Iterate Over Characters:

• For each character pair (s_char, t_char) in s and t, check:
  • If s_char maps to a different t_char in s_to_t, or t_char maps to a different s_char in t_to_s, return false.
  • Update s_to_t[s_char] = t_char and t_to_s[t_char] = s_char.

1. Return True: If the loop completes without returning false, then s and t are isomorphic.

class Solution:
    def isIsomorphic(self, s: str, t: str) -> bool:
        if len(s) != len(t):
            return False

        s_to_t, t_to_s = {}, {}
        
        for s_char, t_char in zip(s, t):
            if (s_char in s_to_t and s_to_t[s_char] != t_char) or \
            (t_char in t_to_s and t_to_s[t_char] != s_char):
                return False
            s_to_t[s_char] = t_char
            t_to_s[t_char] = s_char
            
        return True