Building an Auto-Complete System Using a Trie

Introduction

Auto-complete is an essential feature in modern applications, helping users by suggesting possible inputs based on what they’ve already typed. From search engines to messaging apps, this feature enhances usability and improves efficiency.

What Is a Trie?

A Trie (pronounced “try”) is a tree-like data structure where each node represents a character of a word. Words are stored as paths from the root to the leaf nodes, making it ideal for prefix-based operations. Key properties of a Trie include:

1. Efficient Prefix Searches: Locating all words starting with a specific prefix is faster compared to other data structures.
2. Space Optimization: Shared prefixes are stored only once.

Example:

In a Trie containing “apple,” “app,” and “apply,” the prefix “app” is stored only once.

Implementing Auto-Complete using Trie

Define the Trie Structure

class TrieNode:
    def __init__(self):
        self.children = {}…