Low Level Design: LRU Cache

November 2, 2025

Design a data structure that follows the constraints of a Least Recently Used (LRU) cache.

Implement the LRUCache class:

  • LRUCache(int capacity) Initialize the LRU cache with positive size capacity.

  • int get(int key) Return the value of the key if the key exists, otherwise return -1.

  • void put(int key, int value) Update the value of the key if the key exists. Otherwise, add the key-value pair to the cache. If the number of keys exceeds the capacity from this operation, evict the least recently used key.

  • The functions get and put must each run in O(1) average time complexity.


Key Observations


Approach 1:


Approach 2: