Leetcode 20 Valid Parentheses Use Stack

Given a string containing just the characters ‘(’, ‘)’, ‘{’, ‘}’, ‘[’ and ‘]’, determine if the input string is valid.

An input string is valid if:

Open brackets must be closed by the same type of brackets.
Open brackets must be closed in the correct order.
Note that an empty string is also considered valid.

Example 1:

Input: “()”
Output: true
Example 2:

Input: “()[]{}”
Output: true
Example 3:

Input: “(]”
Output: false
Example 4:

Input: “([)]”
Output: false
Example 5:

Input: “{[]}”
Output: true

class Solution(object):
    def isValid(self, s):
        """
        :type s: str
        :rtype: bool
        """
        # use list for stack to keep track of openning brackets
        stack = []
        # use Hash Map for keeping track of mapping (對應關係). Keeps code clean
        # Also easier to add more types of parenthesis
        # key is right bracket, value is left bracket
        mapping = {")": "(", "]": "[", "}": "{"}
        
        for char in s:
            # If the character is an right or closing bracket
            if char in mapping:
                
                # pop the topMost element from the stack if it is not empty
                # if it's empty, assign a dummy value for later comparison.
                topElement = stack.pop() if stack else '!'
                
                # if the topElement is not equal to the char corresponding value (left bracket), return False
                if mapping[char] != topElement:
                    return False
            else:
                # push the left bracket onto the stack
                stack.append(char)
        
        # In the end, if the stack is empty, then we have a valid expression
        # If not empty, then notValid.
        return not stack```