Verify Business Records with Field and Name Rules

Company: Stripe

Role: Software Engineer

Category: Coding & Algorithms

Difficulty: medium

Interview Round: Technical Screen

Implement `verifyBusinesses(records, requiredFields, lengthField, forbiddenPhrases, ignoredSuffixes)`. Apply the validation stages below and return one status line for each record that has a business name, preserving input order. ### Inputs and Output - `records` is a list of string-to-string maps. The designated fields are `business_name`, `description`, and `nickname`; other fields, such as `url`, may also be present. - `requiredFields` lists the fields that must have values. It includes `description` and `nickname`, and excludes `business_name`, which has its own skip rule. - `lengthField` names the field whose original value must contain between 5 and 32 characters, inclusive. It is either `business_name` or one of `requiredFields`. - `forbiddenPhrases` contains prohibited description substrings, including any prohibited single words or multiword phrases. - `ignoredSuffixes` contains normalized legal suffix words, such as `llc` or `inc`, to ignore at the end of a business name. Return strings of the form `"verified <business_name>"` or `"not verified <business_name>"`, replacing the placeholder with the record's original business-name value. ### Validation Rules 1. A missing field is treated as an empty string. A value is blank if it is empty or contains only ASCII spaces. Skip records with a blank `business_name`; they produce no output. 2. Every field in `requiredFields` must be nonblank. 3. Count every character in the original `lengthField` value, including spaces. Its length must be from 5 through 32. 4. The original `description` must not contain any string in `forbiddenPhrases`. This practice version uses case-sensitive literal substring matching, including spaces inside a phrase; it does not require word boundaries. 5. For the name-overlap check, split `business_name` and `nickname` into maximal runs of ASCII letters and digits, and lowercase those tokens. Repeatedly remove trailing business-name tokens listed in `ignoredSuffixes`. Do not remove suffix words from the middle of the name. 6. At least half of the remaining business-name token occurrences must appear as whole tokens in `nickname`. Each business-name occurrence counts separately, even if repeated; a matching nickname token can satisfy each occurrence of that word. A name with no remaining tokens fails this check. A record is verified only if it passes all checks after the skip rule. No additional URL, legal-identity, or business-validity check is part of this exercise. ### Constraints - There are at most 2,000 records, with at most 20 fields each. Values contain only printable ASCII characters and are at most 200 characters long. - Field names are nonempty and case-sensitive. `requiredFields` contains no duplicates. - There are at most 50 nonempty forbidden phrases, each at most 50 characters long. An empty phrase list imposes no description restriction. - There are at most 50 ignored suffixes. Each is a nonempty lowercase ASCII letter-or-digit token. An empty suffix list removes nothing. - An empty record list returns an empty list. ### Example 1 ```text records = [ {"business_name": " ", "url": "", "nickname": "", "description": ""}, {"business_name": "Acme Labs LLC", "url": "acme.test", "nickname": "Acme Labs", "description": "Software tools"}, {"business_name": "North Star Inc.", "url": "north.test", "nickname": "North", "description": "Payment tools"} ] requiredFields = ["url", "nickname", "description"] lengthField = "nickname" forbiddenPhrases = ["loan", "cash advance"] ignoredSuffixes = ["llc", "inc"] Output: ["verified Acme Labs LLC", "verified North Star Inc."] ``` The blank-name record is skipped. After removing `inc`, one of the two name tokens in the last record appears in its nickname, meeting the half-overlap requirement exactly. ### Example 2 ```text records = [ {"business_name": "Bright Oak LLC", "url": "bright.test", "nickname": "Bright", "description": "loan services"}, {"business_name": "Red Pine LLC", "url": "red.test", "nickname": "Green", "description": "Garden tools"}, {"business_name": "Blue Sky LLC", "url": "", "nickname": "Blue Sky", "description": "Travel tools"}, {"business_name": "Tiny Studio", "url": "tiny.test", "nickname": "Tiny", "description": "Design tools"} ] requiredFields = ["url", "nickname", "description"] lengthField = "nickname" forbiddenPhrases = ["loan", "cash advance"] ignoredSuffixes = ["llc", "inc"] Output: ["not verified Bright Oak LLC", "not verified Red Pine LLC", "not verified Blue Sky LLC", "not verified Tiny Studio"] ``` The records fail because of a forbidden description substring, insufficient name overlap, a blank required field, and a nickname shorter than five characters, respectively.

Overview: Validate business records for required values, field length, prohibited description text, and name-to-nickname overlap while preserving input order.

Implement verifyBusinesses(records, requiredFields, lengthField, forbiddenPhrases, ignoredSuffixes). Apply the validation stages below and return one status line for each record that has a business name, preserving input order.

Inputs and Output

records is a list of string-to-string maps. The designated fields are business_name , description , and nickname ; other fields, such as url , may also be present.
requiredFields lists the fields that must have values. It includes description and nickname , and excludes business_name , which has its own skip rule.
lengthField names the field whose original value must contain between 5 and 32 characters, inclusive. It is either business_name or one of requiredFields .
forbiddenPhrases contains prohibited description substrings, including any prohibited single words or multiword phrases.
ignoredSuffixes contains normalized legal suffix words, such as llc or inc , to ignore at the end of a business name.

Return strings of the form "verified <business_name>" or "not verified <business_name>", replacing the placeholder with the record's original business-name value.

Validation Rules

A missing field is treated as an empty string. A value is blank if it is empty or contains only ASCII spaces. Skip records with a blank business_name ; they produce no output.
Every field in requiredFields must be nonblank.
Count every character in the original lengthField value, including spaces. Its length must be from 5 through 32.
The original description must not contain any string in forbiddenPhrases . This practice version uses case-sensitive literal substring matching, including spaces inside a phrase; it does not require word boundaries.
For the name-overlap check, split business_name and nickname into maximal runs of ASCII letters and digits, and lowercase those tokens. Repeatedly remove trailing business-name tokens listed in ignoredSuffixes . Do not remove suffix words from the middle of the name.
At least half of the remaining business-name token occurrences must appear as whole tokens in nickname . Each business-name occurrence counts separately, even if repeated; a matching nickname token can satisfy each occurrence of that word. A name with no remaining tokens fails this check.

A record is verified only if it passes all checks after the skip rule. No additional URL, legal-identity, or business-validity check is part of this exercise.

Constraints

There are at most 2,000 records, with at most 20 fields each. Values contain only printable ASCII characters and are at most 200 characters long.
Field names are nonempty and case-sensitive. requiredFields contains no duplicates.
There are at most 50 nonempty forbidden phrases, each at most 50 characters long. An empty phrase list imposes no description restriction.
There are at most 50 ignored suffixes. Each is a nonempty lowercase ASCII letter-or-digit token. An empty suffix list removes nothing.
An empty record list returns an empty list.

Example 1

records = [
  {"business_name": " ", "url": "", "nickname": "", "description": ""},
  {"business_name": "Acme Labs LLC", "url": "acme.test", "nickname": "Acme Labs", "description": "Software tools"},
  {"business_name": "North Star Inc.", "url": "north.test", "nickname": "North", "description": "Payment tools"}
]
requiredFields = ["url", "nickname", "description"]
lengthField = "nickname"
forbiddenPhrases = ["loan", "cash advance"]
ignoredSuffixes = ["llc", "inc"]
Output: ["verified Acme Labs LLC", "verified North Star Inc."]

The blank-name record is skipped. After removing inc, one of the two name tokens in the last record appears in its nickname, meeting the half-overlap requirement exactly.

Example 2

records = [
  {"business_name": "Bright Oak LLC", "url": "bright.test", "nickname": "Bright", "description": "loan services"},
  {"business_name": "Red Pine LLC", "url": "red.test", "nickname": "Green", "description": "Garden tools"},
  {"business_name": "Blue Sky LLC", "url": "", "nickname": "Blue Sky", "description": "Travel tools"},
  {"business_name": "Tiny Studio", "url": "tiny.test", "nickname": "Tiny", "description": "Design tools"}
]
requiredFields = ["url", "nickname", "description"]
lengthField = "nickname"
forbiddenPhrases = ["loan", "cash advance"]
ignoredSuffixes = ["llc", "inc"]
Output: ["not verified Bright Oak LLC", "not verified Red Pine LLC", "not verified Blue Sky LLC", "not verified Tiny Studio"]

The records fail because of a forbidden description substring, insufficient name overlap, a blank required field, and a nickname shorter than five characters, respectively.