Longest Palindromic

Substring
Yang Liu

Problem
Given a string S
Find the longest palindromic
substring in S.
Example:
S=abcbcbb. The longest palindromic
substring is bcbcb.

Simple Idea(Brute Force)

S=abcbcbb
Length=n(6) substring: abcbcbb---not palindromic

Length=n-1(5) substring:
start=0, end=n-2(4): abcbc---not
palindromic
start=1, end=n-1(5): bcbcb---palindromic

Longest palindromic substring: bcbcb

Simple Idea(Brute Force)

2

For len=n to 2
len n
n len
for start=0 to n-len

start 0
end= start+len-1
if substring(start,end) is palindromic
return substring(start,end)
Return first character
Complexity

n len

len n

start 0

len

3
(
n

len

1
)
len

O
(
n
)

len n

len

Dynamic Programming(DP)
If substring(i,j) is palindromic, then
substring(i+1,j-1) is palindormic
P[i,j]=1 if substring(I,j) is palindormic
=0 otherwise
When j-i is small(=0, 1), easy to know:
P[i,i]=1 and P[i,i+1]=(S[i]==S[j])
(base)
Computer P[i,j] from small j-i to big j-i:
P[i,j]=P[i+1,j-1] && S[i]==S[j]

Example of DP
S=abcbcbb

P[i,i
]

1
1
1
1
1
1
1

Example of DP
S=abcbcbb

P[i,i
]
P[i,i+
1]

0
1

0
1

0
1

0
1

0
1

1
1

Example of DP
S=abcbcbb

P[i,i
]
P[i,i+
1]
P[i,i+
2]
P[i,i+
3]

1
1

Example of DP
S=abcbcbb

P[i,i
]
P[i,i+
1]
P[i,i+
2]
P[i,i+
3]
.
.
.

1
1

Example of DP
S=abcbcbb

P[i,i
]
P[i,i+
1]
P[i,i+
2]
P[i,i+
3]
.
.
.

Max palindromic
substring?

for(len=n to 1)
for(i=0 to n-len)
0
if (P[i,i+len-1])
0
return S[i..i+len

1
1

DP Algorithm
for(i=0 to n-1)
P[i,i]=1;
O(n2) time and space
P[i,i+1]=(S[i]==S[i+1])?1:0;
for(len=3 to n)
for(i=1 to n-len+1)
P[i,i+len-1]=(P[i+1,i+len-2] && S[i]==S[i+len])?1:0
for(len=n to 1)
for(i=0 to n-len)
if (P[i,i+len-1])
return S[i..i+len-1]

Algorithm of O(1) Space and O(n2)

time
Given the center of a palindrome, easy to
find the maximum substring with that center
center at i: check S[i-dist]==S[i+dist]
S=abcbcbb center at 2(c)
S[2-1]=S[2++1]=b
continue
S[2-2]!=S[2+2]
stop
center at i,i+1: check S[i-dist]==S[i+1+dist]

Do this for all possible centers(n+n-1=2n-1)

Linear Time Algorithm

The previous algorithm simply
computes:
an array P[1..n-1] where P[i] is the
length of maximum substring centered
at i.
an array Q[1..n-2] where Q[i] is the
length of maximum substring centered
at i and i+1.

Can we reduce the time to compute

P[i] & Q[i] by using already computed
P[j] & Q[j] (j<i)?

Compute P[i] & Q[i] Efficiently

S=abbabbabbabbabbaba
abbabbabbabbabbaba P[6]=12
abbabbabbabbabbaba Q[7]=16
P[7]? Q[7]?
abbabbabbabbababa Shall we compare S[8] &
S[10]?
abbabbabbabbababa No! its image P[2] W.R.T S[7]
and the rightmost edge of P[7] provide a lower bound.
Similarly, abbabbabbabbabbaba implies a lower
bound from P[6] and the rightmost edge of Q[7]

Lower Bound of P[i]

Depends on the rightmost edge of
paralindromic substrings and the
image of S[i] in the substring.
Rightmost edge: rEdge
Image: depends on the length of the
substring

can we make the length of

paralindromic substrings to be always
odd?

Length Change of Paralindromic

Substrings
Insert a special character between
any adjacent characters in the input
string
o S =abcbcbb
S=#a#b#c#b#c#b#b
o S=abccbab
S=#a#b#c#c#b#a#b

Center, Image, and

Rightmost Edge
abbabbabbabbabbaba P[19]=?
center
rEdge=26
=13
#a#b#b#a#b#b#a#b#b#a#b#b#
a#b#b#a#b#a
image=2*13-19=7
P[7]=13
P[19]>=P[7]=13

Center, Image, and

Rightmost Edge
aababbabbabaaaba P[19]=?
center
rEdge=28
=15
#a#a#b#a#b#b#a#b#b#a#b#a#a
#a#b#a
image=2*15-19=7
P[7]=7
P[21]>=P[7]=7

Center, Image, and

Rightmost Edge
babbabbabbabbaaaba P[21]=12
center
rEdge=28
=15
#b#a#b#b#a#b#b#a#b#b#a#b#b#a#a#b
#a#b#a
image=2*15-21=9
P[9]=19
P[21]>=2(rEdge-i)-1
=2(28-21)1=13

Center, Image, and

Rightmost Edge
babbabbabbabbaaaba P[21]=12
center
rEdge=28
=15
#b#a#b#b#a#b#b#a#b#b#a#b#b#a#a
#b#a#b#a
In general,
paralindromic substring centered at i can be
extended to one side at least min(P[i], rEdgei) (P[i] now refers to the maximum characters
in one side including the center character at
i)

Center, Image, and

Rightmost Edge
abbabbabbabbabbaba P[19]=?
center
rEdge=26
=13
#a#b#b#a#b#b#a#b#b#a#b#b#
a#b#b#a#b#a
image=2*13-19=7
P[7]=7
P[19]>=min(P[7],26-19)=7

Center, Image, and

Rightmost Edge
aababbabbabaaaba P[19]=?
center
rEdge=28
=13
#a#a#b#a#b#b#a#b#b#a#b#a#a
#a#b#a
image=2*13-19=7
P[7]=3
P[21]>=min(P[7],28-)=

Center, Image, and

Rightmost Edge
babbabbabbabbaaaba P[21]=12
center
rEdge=28
=15
#b#a#b#b#a#b#b#a#b#b#a#b#b
#a#a#b#a#b#a
image=2*15-21=9
P[9]=10
P[21]>=min(P[9],28-21+1)=8

O(n) Algorithm
For(i=1 to n-1)
Why the complexity
insert special character before A[i]
center=0;
rEdge=0;
For(i=1 to 2n-1)
image=2*center-i;
P[i]=min(P[image],rEdge-i+1);
extend P[i] to its maximum;
if(P[i]+i>rEdge)
rEdge=P[i]+I;
center=i;
Find the maximum P[i] for i in 1, 3, , 2n-1.
Return the substring centered at i with 2P[i]-1 characters.

is O(n

Exercise 1
Find one of the longest paralindromic
subsequences.
Example:
S=abbbcccabaa
Longest paralindormic subsequenc:
abccba from abbbcccabaa

Exercise 2
Determine whether an integer is a
palindrome. Do this without extra
space.

Research Reference
A New Linear-Time On-Line
Algorithm for finding the smallest
initial palindrome of a string, G.
Manacher, JACM 22(3):346-351,
1975.