''' The nested brackets problem is a problem that determines if a sequence of brackets are properly nested. A sequence of brackets s is considered properly nested if any of the following conditions are true: - s is empty - s has the form (U) or [U] or {U} where U is a properly nested string - s has the form VW where V and W are properly nested strings For example, the string "()()[()]" is properly nested but "[(()]" is not. The function called is_balanced takes as input a string S which is a sequence of brackets and returns true if S is nested and false otherwise. ''' from __future__ import print_function def is_balanced(S): stack = [] open_brackets = set({'(', '[', '{'}) closed_brackets = set({')', ']', '}'}) open_to_closed = dict({'{':'}', '[':']', '(':')'}) for i in range(len(S)): if S[i] in open_brackets: stack.append(S[i]) elif S[i] in closed_brackets: if len(stack) == 0 or (len(stack) > 0 and open_to_closed[stack.pop()] != S[i]): return False return len(stack) == 0 def main(): S = raw_input("Enter sequence of brackets: ") if is_balanced(S): print((S, "is balanced")) else: print((S, "is not balanced")) if __name__ == "__main__": main()