Write a recursive function named canInterleave
that accepts three strings s1, s2, and s3 as parameters and uses backtracking to determine whether s3 can be formed by interleaving the characters of s1 and s2 in some combination, returning true
if so and false
if not.
For example, the call of canInterleave("aabcc", "dbbca", "aadbbcbcac")
should return true
because you can form "aadbbcbcac"
by taking the two 'a' characters from s1, then the 'd' from s2, and so on, to make the given result.
The given s3 must use all characters from both s1 and s2 in the same relative order.
The call of canInterleave("abc", "dde", "addce")
would return false
because the 'b' from s1 is not used in s3.
The call of canInterleave("abc", "dde", "adbdeca")
would return false
because s3 contains an extra 'a' character.
The call of canInterleave("abc", "dde", "cdbdea")
would return false
because the 'c', 'b', and 'a' from s1 occur in the wrong relative order.
Constraints:
Do not declare any global variables.
Your algorithm must be recursive and must use backtracking; you should not need to use any loops.
You are allowed to define other "helper" functions if you like; they are subject to these same constraints.