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The String Shrinker
A easy Python interview practice problem on DataDriven. Write and execute real python code with instant grading.
- Domain
- Python
- Difficulty
- easy
- Seniority
- mid
Problem
The logging pipeline produces status codes as long repeated-character strings (e.g. 'AAAAABBBCC') that waste storage. Before writing to the archive, the pipeline should compress these strings using run-length encoding. Write a function that replaces consecutive runs of the same character with the character followed by its count, omitting the count when it is 1. If the compressed version is not shorter, return the original.
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