Kata

Mastering The Python Standard Library #1

Find the longest common part at the start of a list of strings

Problem

Given a list of strings, return the longest common substring that occur at the beginning of all the strings (also called the longest common prefix). If there is no such a string, return an empty string.

Example

lst = ['apple', 'application', 'appearance'] # Given a list of strings

expected_output = 'app' # The longest common prefix is 'app'

Hint

There is one function in the standard library which exactly does the same thing!

About This Series

Welcome to Mastering The Python Standard Library Series, a collection of problems designed to hone your use of the handy builtin libary!

All the problems can be readily solved by importing from the standard library! So these katas are all about how you are familiar with the builtin modules!