Leetcode - Remove Outermost Parentheses Solution

A valid parentheses string is either empty (""), "(" + A + ")", or A + B, where A and B are valid parentheses strings, and + represents string concatenation.  For example, "", "()", "(())()", and "(()(()))" are all valid parentheses strings.

A valid parentheses string S is primitive if it is nonempty, and there does not exist a way to split it into S = A+B, with A and B nonempty valid parentheses strings.

Given a valid parentheses string S, consider its primitive decomposition: S = P_1 + P_2 + ... + P_k, where P_i are primitive valid parentheses strings.

Return S after removing the outermost parentheses of every primitive string in the primitive decomposition of S.

Example 1:

Input: "(()())(())"
Output: "()()()"
Explanation: 
The input string is "(()())(())", with primitive decomposition "(()())" + "(())".
After removing outer parentheses of each part, this is "()()" + "()" = "()()()".

Example 2:

Input: "(()())(())(()(()))"
Output: "()()()()(())"
Explanation: 
The input string is "(()())(())(()(()))", with primitive decomposition "(()())" + "(())" + "(()(()))".
After removing outer parentheses of each part, this is "()()" + "()" + "()(())" = "()()()()(())".

Example 3:

Input: "()()"
Output: ""
Explanation: 
The input string is "()()", with primitive decomposition "()" + "()".
After removing outer parentheses of each part, this is "" + "" = "".

Note:

  1. S.length <= 10000
  2. S[i] is "(" or ")"
  3. S is a valid parentheses string

Solution in Python

class Solution:
    def removeOuterParentheses(self, S: str) -> str:
        left = 0
        right = 0
        curr_stack = []
        main_stack = []
        for i in S:
            if i == "(":
                left+=1
                curr_stack.append("(")
            else:
                right+=1
                curr_stack.append(")")
            if left==right:
                main_stack.extend(curr_stack[1:-1])
                curr_stack = []
        return "".join(main_stack)

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