How do I practice coding and algorithm questions?

Use PracHub's coding console to write, test, and debug your solutions in Python or JavaScript. View hints, test against sample inputs, and compare with official solutions.

What difficulty level is this coding question?

This is a medium difficulty Coding & Algorithms question, commonly asked during Take-home Project rounds at Upstart.

What role is this question designed for?

This question is commonly asked for Software Engineer candidates at Upstart during technical interviews.

Add Dramatic Punctuation to Text | Upstart Coding Question

Quick Overview

Transform text by replacing periods inside each non-whitespace token and adding the required dramatic suffix while preserving every whitespace character. Handle empty or whitespace-only input, existing punctuation, repeated spaces, tabs, newlines, million-character strings, and streaming extensions.

Add Dramatic Punctuation to Text

Company: Upstart

Role: Software Engineer

Category: Coding & Algorithms

Difficulty: medium

Interview Round: Take-home Project

# Add Dramatic Punctuation to Text Implement `add_drama(text)`. Preserve all whitespace exactly. For each maximal non-whitespace token, first replace every period `.` in that token with `!`, then append one additional `!` to the token. Other characters are unchanged. An empty string or a string containing only whitespace is returned unchanged. ## Constraints - `0 <= len(text) <= 10^6` - Input may contain spaces, tabs, and newlines. - The output must be built in linear time. ## Examples - `"hello. world"` becomes `"hello!! world!"`. - `"a b.c"` becomes `"a! b!c!"`. - `" "` remains `" "`. ## Clarifications A token that already ends in `!` still receives the required extra `!`. Replacing a final period and then appending therefore produces two exclamation marks. ## Hints Track whether the scan is inside a token so the extra punctuation is emitted exactly at a token boundary. ## Extensions - Process the text as a character stream. - Treat Unicode grapheme clusters as characters. - Make the replacement and suffix characters configurable.

Quick Answer: Transform text by replacing periods inside each non-whitespace token and adding the required dramatic suffix while preserving every whitespace character. Handle empty or whitespace-only input, existing punctuation, repeated spaces, tabs, newlines, million-character strings, and streaming extensions.

Implement `add_drama(text)`. Preserve all whitespace exactly. For each maximal non-whitespace token, first replace every period (`.`) in that token with an exclamation mark (`!`), then append one additional exclamation mark to the token. Other characters are unchanged. An empty string or a string containing only whitespace is returned unchanged. A token that already ends in `!` still receives the required extra `!`. Replacing a final period and then appending therefore produces two exclamation marks.

Constraints

0 <= len(text) <= 10^6
Input may contain spaces, tabs, and newlines.
All whitespace must be preserved exactly.
The output must be built in linear time.

Examples

Input: ('',)

Expected Output: ''

Explanation: The minimum-length input contains no token and must remain empty.

Input: ('hello. world',)

Expected Output: 'hello!! world!'

Explanation: This exact source example replaces the period in the first token, then appends one exclamation mark to each token.

Hints

Track whether the scan is inside a token so the extra punctuation is emitted exactly at a token boundary.