How should I practice Safest Mouse Path Away from a Cat?

Start by reading the full statement, solve the visible examples, then compare the pattern against related Google phone screen problems in FastPrep.

Is Safest Mouse Path Away from a Cat associated with Google?

FastPrep tags this as a Google phone screen coding practice problem when the problem catalog has that company and stage context.

Safest Mouse Path Away from a Cat

Google● HardFULLTIMEPHONE SCREEN

Problem statement

A square grid contains land cells marked 0 and impassable water cells marked 1. A mouse starts at start, wants to reach target, and a cat is located at cat. All three coordinates are land cells.

The problem statement continues

Pro

Examples

Example 1

grid = [[0,0,0],[0,0,0],[0,0,0]]start = [0,0]target = [2,2]cat = [0,2]return = 2

Following the left and bottom edges keeps every visited cell at Manhattan distance at least 2 from the cat.

FastPrep Pro

Reported in 1 Google interview this week

Unlock this recently reported problem

FastPrep Pro gives you full access to interview problems reported within the last week.

Full problem statement and constraints
2 more worked examples, explained
Guided hints and editorial
Run your code on real test cases

$8.25/month

$99 billed yearly — or $19 month-to-month. Cancel anytime.

Free plan — 2 of 2 free unlocks used this week

See Google hiring insights