diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index f296839..8fb4b01 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 fn main() {
-    aoc_2018::tasks::day02::task1();
-    aoc_2018::tasks::day02::task2();
+    // aoc_2018::tasks::day02::task1();
+    // aoc_2018::tasks::day02::task2();
+    aoc_2018::tasks::day02::task2_linear();
 }
diff --git a/src/tasks/day02.rs b/src/tasks/day02.rs
index 44eef79..9c77332 100644
--- a/src/tasks/day02.rs
+++ b/src/tasks/day02.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+use std::collections::HashMap;
+use std::collections::HashSet;
 use utils;
 
 pub fn task1() {
@@ -48,3 +50,105 @@ pub fn task2() {
 
     println!("Part 2: None found!");
 }
+
+pub fn task2_linear() {
+    let input = utils::read_file("input/day02.txt");
+
+    // first order of business: create a tree where each input line is sorted
+    // into every nodes same_prefix, if the path leading from the root to that
+    // has that prefix.
+    let mut root = Node::default();
+    for id in input.lines() {
+        add_id_to_tree(&mut root, &id);
+    }
+
+    // find a match..
+    let result = find_some_match(&root);
+    println!("{:?}", result);
+}
+
+fn find_some_match(node: &Node) -> Option<String> {
+    if let Some(result) = check_children_for_match(&node) {
+        return Some(result);
+    } else {
+        for child in node.outgoing.values() {
+            if let Some(result) = find_some_match(&child) {
+                return Some(result);
+            }
+        }
+        None
+    }
+}
+
+/// Checks all IDs that have the prefix of this node if they are a match.
+/// For this first for every child we look at its collected IDs - those
+/// are the potential candidates, e.g. an ID that is in the 'e' child and
+/// one that is in the 'f' child, if both have the same suffix.
+///
+/// We know that there is a unique match. Therefore we can sort out all
+/// suffixes that appear more than once in a child node. Then we look at
+/// all possible suffixes from all child nodes. If one suffix appears exactly
+/// twice, we have a match.
+fn check_children_for_match<'a>(node: &Node<'a>) -> Option<String> {
+    let edges: Vec<_> = node.outgoing.keys().collect();
+    // create a set of candidate suffixes for each edge
+    let suffix_candidates: HashMap<char, HashSet<&str>> = edges
+        .iter()
+        .map(|c| {
+            let mut suffix_count = HashMap::<&str, HashSet<&str>>::new();
+            let ref ids = node.outgoing.get(&c).unwrap().same_prefix;
+            for id in ids {
+                suffix_count
+                    .entry(&id[node.depth + 1..])
+                    .or_insert(HashSet::new())
+                    .insert(id);
+            }
+
+            (
+                **c,
+                suffix_count
+                    .iter()
+                    .filter(|(_, count)| count.len() == 1)
+                    .map(|(suffix, _)| *suffix)
+                    .collect(),
+            )
+        }).collect();
+    // go over all suffixes and count their occurences. If # = 2, match!
+    let mut suffix_counter: HashMap<&str, usize> = HashMap::new();
+    for suffix_set in suffix_candidates.values() {
+        for suffix in suffix_set {
+            *suffix_counter.entry(suffix).or_insert(0) += 1;
+        }
+    }
+    if let Some(suffix) =
+        suffix_counter
+            .iter()
+            .find_map(|(suffix, count)| if *count == 2 { Some(suffix) } else { None })
+    {
+        Some(format!("{}{}", node.prefix, &suffix))
+    } else {
+        None
+    }
+}
+
+#[derive(Default, Debug)]
+struct Node<'a> {
+    depth: usize,
+    prefix: &'a str,
+    same_prefix: HashSet<&'a str>,
+    outgoing: HashMap<char, Node<'a>>,
+}
+
+fn add_id_to_tree<'a>(root: &mut Node<'a>, id: &'a str) {
+    let mut current = root;
+    current.same_prefix.insert(&id);
+    for (i, c) in id.chars().enumerate() {
+        {
+            let mut next = current.outgoing.entry(c).or_insert(Node::default());
+            next.depth = i + 1;
+            next.same_prefix.insert(&id);
+            next.prefix = &id[..=i];
+        }
+        current = { current }.outgoing.get_mut(&c).unwrap();
+    }
+}