How often are these problems asked?
Frequency scores are based on crowdsourced interview reports. A higher score means the problem has been reported more often in recent Yelp interviews.
Very Likely
75-100%
Likely
50-74%
Sometimes
25-49%
Rare
0-24%
Problem database last updated: June 20, 2025
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Yelp Coding Interview Questions
28 problems · 8 Easy, 15 Medium, 5 Hard · Ranked #70 of 458
Difficulty breakdown
8 Easy
29% · avg 23%
15 Medium
54% · avg 59%
5 Hard
18% · avg 18%
Top topics
string
64.3%2.3x
array
46.4%
hash-table
39.3%1.8x
sorting
25%1.7x
math
17.9%
breadth-first-search
10.7%
Interview profile
Based on 28 reported problems, Yelp interviews are in line with industry averages - 18% Hard vs 18% overall. The majority (54%) of questions are Medium difficulty, which is typical for companies that want to see solid fundamentals without excessive trick questions.
Compared to the industry average, Yelp puts unusual emphasis on randomized (10.7% of problems, 11.5x the industry average), bucket-sort (7.1% of problems, 9.2x the industry average), trie (7.1% of problems, 2.7x the industry average). If you're short on time, these are the categories to double down on.
The most common topics are string (64.3%), array (46.4%), hash-table (39.3%), sorting (25%). Problems below are sorted by frequency, the ones at the top are asked most often.
All 28 problems
| Problem | Difficulty | Frequency | Topics | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Course Schedule There are a total of numCourses courses you have to take, labeled from 0 to numCourses - 1. You are given an array prerequisites where prerequisites[i] = [ai, b... | Medium | Very Likely | depth-first-searchbreadth-first-searchgraph | Solve |
Filter Restaurants by Vegan-Friendly, Price and Distance Given the array restaurants where restaurants[i] = [idi, ratingi, veganFriendlyi, pricei, distancei]. You have to filter the restaurants using three filters. | Medium | Very Likely | arraysorting | Solve |
Destination City You are given the array paths, where paths[i] = [cityAi, cityBi] means there exists a direct path going from cityAi to cityBi. Return the destination city, that... | Easy | Very Likely | arrayhash-tablestring | Solve |
Reverse Words in a String Given an input string s, reverse the order of the words. | Medium | Very Likely | two-pointersstring | Solve |
Longest Common Prefix Write a function to find the longest common prefix string amongst an array of strings. | Easy | Very Likely | arraystringtrie | Solve |
Valid Anagram Given two strings s and t, return true if t is an anagram of s, and false otherwise. | Easy | Very Likely | hash-tablestringsorting | Solve |
Reverse Linked List Given the head of a singly linked list, reverse the list, and return the reversed list. | Easy | Very Likely | linked-listrecursion | Solve |
Group Anagrams Given an array of strings strs, group the anagrams together. You can return the answer in any order. | Medium | Very Likely | arrayhash-tablestring | Solve |
Decode String Given an encoded string, return its decoded string. | Medium | Very Likely | stringstackrecursion | Solve |
Insert Delete GetRandom O(1) Implement the RandomizedSet class: | Medium | Very Likely | arrayhash-tablemath | Solve |
Insert Delete GetRandom O(1) - Duplicates allowed RandomizedCollection is a data structure that contains a collection of numbers, possibly duplicates (i.e., a multiset). It should support inserting and removing... | Hard | Very Likely | arrayhash-tablemath | Solve |
String Compression Given an array of characters chars, compress it using the following algorithm: | Medium | Very Likely | two-pointersstring | Solve |
Top K Frequent Elements Given an integer array nums and an integer k, return the k most frequent elements. You may return the answer in any order. | Medium | Very Likely | arrayhash-tabledivide-and-conquer | Solve |
Top K Frequent Words Given an array of strings words and an integer k, return the k most frequent strings. | Medium | Very Likely | arrayhash-tablestring | Solve |
Word Ladder A transformation sequence from word beginWord to word endWord using a dictionary wordList is a sequence of words beginWord -> s1 -> s2 -> ... -> sk such that: | Hard | Very Likely | hash-tablestringbreadth-first-search | Solve |
Word Ladder II A transformation sequence from word beginWord to word endWord using a dictionary wordList is a sequence of words beginWord -> s1 -> s2 -> ... -> sk such that: | Hard | Very Likely | hash-tablestringbacktracking | Solve |
The Skyline Problem A city's skyline is the outer contour of the silhouette formed by all the buildings in that city when viewed from a distance. Given the locations and heights of... | Hard | Very Likely | arraydivide-and-conquerbinary-indexed-tree | Solve |
Check If a Word Occurs As a Prefix of Any Word in a Sentence Given a sentence that consists of some words separated by a single space, and a searchWord, check if searchWord is a prefix of any word in sentence. | Easy | Very Likely | two-pointersstringstring-matching | Solve |
Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters Given a string s, find the length of the longest substring without duplicate characters. | Medium | Very Likely | hash-tablestringsliding-window | Solve |
Merge Intervals Given an array of intervals where intervals[i] = [starti, endi], merge all overlapping intervals, and return an array of the non-overlapping intervals that cove... | Medium | Very Likely | arraysorting | Solve |
Minimum Index Sum of Two Lists Given two arrays of strings list1 and list2, find the common strings with the least index sum. | Easy | Very Likely | arrayhash-tablestring | Solve |
Find the Closest Palindrome Given a string n representing an integer, return the closest integer (not including itself), which is a palindrome. If there is a tie, return the smaller one. | Hard | Very Likely | mathstring | Solve |
Two Sum Given an array of integers nums and an integer target, return the indices of the two numbers that add up to target. | Easy | Very Likely | arrayhash-map | Solve |
Remove Colored Pieces if Both Neighbors are the Same Color There are n pieces arranged in a line, and each piece is colored either by 'A' or by 'B'. You are given a string colors of length n where colors[i] is the color... | Medium | Very Likely | mathstringgreedy | Solve |
Letter Case Permutation Given a string s, you can transform every letter individually to be lowercase or uppercase to create another string. | Medium | Very Likely | stringbacktrackingbit-manipulation | Solve |
Random Pick with Weight You are given a 0-indexed array of positive integers w where w[i] describes the weight of the ith index. | Medium | Very Likely | arraymathbinary-search | Solve |
Minimum String Length After Removing Substrings You are given a string s consisting only of uppercase English letters. | Easy | Likely | stringstacksimulation | Solve |
Shortest and Lexicographically Smallest Beautiful String You are given a binary string s and a positive integer k. | Medium | Likely | stringsliding-window | Solve |
Course Schedule
SolveThere are a total of numCourses courses you have to take, labeled from 0 to numCourses - 1. You are given an array prerequisites where prerequisites[i] = [ai, b...
MediumVery Likely
depth-first-searchbreadth-first-searchgraph
Filter Restaurants by Vegan-Friendly, Price and Distance
SolveGiven the array restaurants where restaurants[i] = [idi, ratingi, veganFriendlyi, pricei, distancei]. You have to filter the restaurants using three filters.
MediumVery Likely
arraysorting
Destination City
SolveYou are given the array paths, where paths[i] = [cityAi, cityBi] means there exists a direct path going from cityAi to cityBi. Return the destination city, that...
EasyVery Likely
arrayhash-tablestring
Reverse Words in a String
SolveGiven an input string s, reverse the order of the words.
MediumVery Likely
two-pointersstring
Longest Common Prefix
SolveWrite a function to find the longest common prefix string amongst an array of strings.
EasyVery Likely
arraystringtrie
Valid Anagram
SolveGiven two strings s and t, return true if t is an anagram of s, and false otherwise.
EasyVery Likely
hash-tablestringsorting
Reverse Linked List
SolveGiven the head of a singly linked list, reverse the list, and return the reversed list.
EasyVery Likely
linked-listrecursion
Group Anagrams
SolveGiven an array of strings strs, group the anagrams together. You can return the answer in any order.
MediumVery Likely
arrayhash-tablestring
Decode String
SolveGiven an encoded string, return its decoded string.
MediumVery Likely
stringstackrecursion
Insert Delete GetRandom O(1)
SolveImplement the RandomizedSet class:
MediumVery Likely
arrayhash-tablemath
Insert Delete GetRandom O(1) - Duplicates allowed
SolveRandomizedCollection is a data structure that contains a collection of numbers, possibly duplicates (i.e., a multiset). It should support inserting and removing...
HardVery Likely
arrayhash-tablemath
String Compression
SolveGiven an array of characters chars, compress it using the following algorithm:
MediumVery Likely
two-pointersstring
Top K Frequent Elements
SolveGiven an integer array nums and an integer k, return the k most frequent elements. You may return the answer in any order.
MediumVery Likely
arrayhash-tabledivide-and-conquer
Top K Frequent Words
SolveGiven an array of strings words and an integer k, return the k most frequent strings.
MediumVery Likely
arrayhash-tablestring
Word Ladder
SolveA transformation sequence from word beginWord to word endWord using a dictionary wordList is a sequence of words beginWord -> s1 -> s2 -> ... -> sk such that:
HardVery Likely
hash-tablestringbreadth-first-search
Word Ladder II
SolveA transformation sequence from word beginWord to word endWord using a dictionary wordList is a sequence of words beginWord -> s1 -> s2 -> ... -> sk such that:
HardVery Likely
hash-tablestringbacktracking
The Skyline Problem
SolveA city's skyline is the outer contour of the silhouette formed by all the buildings in that city when viewed from a distance. Given the locations and heights of...
HardVery Likely
arraydivide-and-conquerbinary-indexed-tree
Check If a Word Occurs As a Prefix of Any Word in a Sentence
SolveGiven a sentence that consists of some words separated by a single space, and a searchWord, check if searchWord is a prefix of any word in sentence.
EasyVery Likely
two-pointersstringstring-matching
Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters
SolveGiven a string s, find the length of the longest substring without duplicate characters.
MediumVery Likely
hash-tablestringsliding-window
Merge Intervals
SolveGiven an array of intervals where intervals[i] = [starti, endi], merge all overlapping intervals, and return an array of the non-overlapping intervals that cove...
MediumVery Likely
arraysorting
Minimum Index Sum of Two Lists
SolveGiven two arrays of strings list1 and list2, find the common strings with the least index sum.
EasyVery Likely
arrayhash-tablestring
Find the Closest Palindrome
SolveGiven a string n representing an integer, return the closest integer (not including itself), which is a palindrome. If there is a tie, return the smaller one.
HardVery Likely
mathstring
Two Sum
SolveGiven an array of integers nums and an integer target, return the indices of the two numbers that add up to target.
EasyVery Likely
arrayhash-map
Remove Colored Pieces if Both Neighbors are the Same Color
SolveThere are n pieces arranged in a line, and each piece is colored either by 'A' or by 'B'. You are given a string colors of length n where colors[i] is the color...
MediumVery Likely
mathstringgreedy
Letter Case Permutation
SolveGiven a string s, you can transform every letter individually to be lowercase or uppercase to create another string.
MediumVery Likely
stringbacktrackingbit-manipulation
Random Pick with Weight
SolveYou are given a 0-indexed array of positive integers w where w[i] describes the weight of the ith index.
MediumVery Likely
arraymathbinary-search
Minimum String Length After Removing Substrings
SolveYou are given a string s consisting only of uppercase English letters.
EasyLikely
stringstacksimulation
Shortest and Lexicographically Smallest Beautiful String
SolveYou are given a binary string s and a positive integer k.
MediumLikely
stringsliding-window
Preparing for your Yelp coding interview
Yelp interviews focus heavily on string, array, hash-table problems. If you're short on time, these are the categories to prioritize. The problems on this page are sorted by frequency, so start from the top and work your way down.
Beyond solving problems, practice explaining your approach. Yelp interviewers care about your thought process - how you break down a problem, consider edge cases, and evaluate tradeoffs between solutions. A clean O(n) solution you can explain clearly beats an O(log n) solution you can't articulate.
Looking for more companies? Browse all 458 companies in our directory, or sharpen your fundamentals with our free data structure visualizers and AI-powered DSA tutor.
Frequently Asked Questions
What coding problems does Yelp ask in interviews?add
Yelp has been reported to ask 28 distinct coding problems. The most common topics are string, array, hash-table. 8 are Easy difficulty, 15 are Medium, and 5 are Hard. Problems are sorted by frequency - the ones at the top are asked most often.
How hard are Yelp coding interviews?add
Based on 28 reported problems, Yelp interviews are in line with industry averages - 18% Hard vs 18% overall. 54% of questions are Medium difficulty. Focus on the high-frequency Medium problems first, then work through the Hard ones.
How should I prepare for a Yelp coding interview?add
Start with the highest-frequency problems listed on this page. Focus on the core topics: string, array, hash-table. Practice solving them under time pressure and explaining your approach out loud. Mock interviews with AI can simulate the real experience.
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