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Solution: Wildcard Matching

Explore a greedy algorithm to solve wildcard matching problems that involve '?' and '*' characters. Understand how to match patterns against strings by scanning left to right, using backtracking at '*' for efficient complete matching with O(n+m) time and O(1) space complexity.

Statement

Given an input string, s, and a pattern string, p, implement wildcard pattern matching that determines if the pattern matches the entire input string.

The pattern supports two special wildcard characters:

  • '?': Matches exactly one arbitrary character.

  • '*': Matches any sequence of characters (including zero characters).

The match must be complete, meaning the pattern should cover the entire input string, not just a part of it.

Return TRUE if the pattern matches the whole string; otherwise, return FALSE.

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