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819 challenges 506 easy 280 medium 33 hard

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Recursion & Backtracking easy

Wildcard Match (Simple)

Write a function that checks whether a string matches a pattern with '*' and '?' wildcards.

wildcard recursion string

Recursion & Backtracking medium

Word Search Backtrack

Determine if a given word exists in a 2D board by tracing adjacent cells without reusing any cell.

backtracking matrix dfs

Recursion & Backtracking hard

Remove invalid parentheses

Given a string with parentheses and letters, return all valid strings after removing the minimum number of invalid parentheses.

backtracking parentheses string

Recursion & Backtracking medium

Partition Equal Subset Sum (Backtracking)

Write a function that uses backtracking to decide if a list of positive integers can be partitioned into two subsets with equal sum.

backtracking subset-sum partition

Showing 4 challenges · Recursion & Backtracking

Recursion & Backtracking — Python coding challenges

What you will find here

This page lists recursion & backtracking challenges — real Python problems you solve in the browser IDE with instant test feedback. Each challenge includes a clear brief, starter code, and automated checks.

Challenges vs tutorials and quizzes

Challenges test what you can build under constraints. For guided teaching, use our Python tutorials. For quick checks, try quizzes or copy snippets from code samples.