In C gets function is not working in iteration - string

At first do while iteration in my code, the gets() function works fine, but from the next iteration it skips the gets() function and moves on to the following statement.
So please anyone sort out the problem with a solution. The problem part will be highlighted in bold. The code is as follows:
void main()
{
char string[150], cont[5];
int total = 0, alpha = 0, digit = 0, spl_char = 0, upp = 0, low = 0;
int i, vowels = 0,consonants = 0;
int choice;
do
{
system("cls");
printf("\t\t\t\tSTRING OPERATIONS\n");
printf("\t\t\t\t~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~\n");
printf("\nEnter the String: ");
***gets(string);*** // the problem part
printf("\nEnter your choice: ");
scanf("%d", &choice);
switch (choice)
{
case 1:
printf("1");
break;
case 2:
printf("2);
break;
default:
printf("\nSorry! The Entered Choice is Not Available. Try Again!");
break;
}
do
{
printf("\nDo you want to Continue (yes/no): ");
scanf("%s", cont);
if (stricmp(cont, "yes") == 0 || stricmp(cont, "no") == 0)
break;
printf("\nError!!! Please type only yes or no.\n");
} while(stricmp(cont, "yes") != 0 || stricmp(cont, "no") != 0);
} while(stricmp(cont, "yes") == 0);
}
The first iteration it asks & waits for the input:
for eg:
Enter the String: bat
and the process continues....
And in second iteration it just asks and skips to following statement:
for eg:
Enter the String:
Enter your choice:

Related

How do i create an option in switch case?

I've recently tried to make some switch case function. Now, I'm currently trying to make an option but it seems it always skips the if part in case 1. The input just doesn't go in the if - else part.
#include <stdio.h>
int main(){
int option;
char choice;
int celcius;
menu:
printf("Welcome to program.\n");
printf("1. Input celcius\n");
printf("2. Convert To Kelvin\n");
printf("3. Convert To Fahrenheit\n");
printf("4. Convert To Reamur\n");
scanf("%d", &option);
switch(option){
case 1:
scanf("%d", &celcius);
printf("The value is : %d\n", celcius);
printf("Continue? : (y/n)\n"); scanf("%c", &choice);getchar();
if(choice == 'y' || choice == 'Y'){
goto menu;
}else if(choice == 'n' || choice == 'N');
break;
}
case 2:
printf("Please input the value: "); scanf("%d", &celcius);
int kelvin = celcius + 273;
printf("Converted Value is : %d\n", kelvin);
break;
case 3:
printf("Please input the value: "); scanf("%d", &celcius);
int fahrenheit = celcius + 32;
printf("Converted Value is : %d\n", fahrenheit);
break;
case 4:
printf("Please input the value: "); scanf("%d", &celcius);
int reamur = 5/4 * celcius;
printf("Converted Value is : %d\n", reamur);
break;
default:
printf("Wrong input.\n");
}
return 0;
}
(incomplete code because currently trying to make the case 1 works.)
Any solutions will help : )
You have a getchar() after the scanf() for choice. This is reading the newline character that is left in the input buffer after the scanf() for option.
You need to remove the getchar() and change the scanf() for choice to:
scanf(" %c", &choice);
The space before the %c will skip any whitespace characters in the input buffer.

I need to fix my code to count the syllables of multiple string inputs

As a new student to the C++ language I was originally given the assignment to write a code that would count the amount of syllables in a given string. Later it was changed on me to be able to count multiple strings.Now keep in mind I'm not to far along in the class and honestly I have my concerns about whether or not I'm actually learning what I need to pass this class. So I went back and started the frustrating process of changing my code when it already worked for a different function. I managed to produce the desired format of:
Word Syllable
Harry 2
Hairy 2
Hare 2
The 2
As you can tell it's not correct as it counts the syllables of only the first word and then applies it to the others. I tried changing it to a for loop but it didn't work so I went to a while loop and I got a somewhat better result:
Word Syllable
Harry 2
Word Syllable
Hare 1
So now it correctly counts the syllables but only of every other word instead of all and double prints the table header. Now even my cout command tells me it's ambiguous even though it still runs so I'm extra confused. I'm thinking I might have to change it into an array but at this point I'm completely stumped.
Here is my code so far:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <iomanip>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
cout << "Please enter four words: ";
string word;
while (cin >> word);
{
cin >> word;
bool last_vowel = false;
bool last_cons = false;
bool curr_vowel = false;
bool curr_cons = false;
int syllable_count = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < word.length(); i++)
{
string letter = word.substr(i, 1);
if (letter == "a" || letter == "e" ||
letter == "i" || letter == "o" ||
letter == "u" || letter == "y" ||
letter == "A" || letter == "E" ||
letter == "I" || letter == "O" ||
letter == "U" || letter == "Y")
{
curr_vowel = true;
curr_cons = false;
}
else
{
curr_vowel = false;
curr_cons = true;
}
// Increment the syllable count any time we
// transition from a vowel to a consonant
if (curr_cons && last_vowel)
{
syllable_count++;
}
last_vowel = curr_vowel;
last_cons = curr_cons;
}
// Check the last letter in word.
string last = word.substr(word.length() - 1, 1);
// Add one for an ending vowel that is not an "e"
if (last == "a" || last == "i" || last == "o" ||
last == "u" || last == "y" || last == "A" ||
last == "I" || last == "O" || last == "U" ||
last == "Y")
{
syllable_count++;
}
// There has to be at least one syllable
if (syllable_count == 0)
{
syllable_count = 1;
}
cout << left;
cout << setw(10) << "Word" << setw(20) << "Syllables" << endl;
cout << "__________________________" << endl;
cout << left;
cout << setw(19) << word << syllable_count << endl;
}
return 0;
}
Tony answer to your problem is very complicated. I saw someone writing this looks like an unbelievably difficult problem in linguistics while researching the conditions of syllables.
I was not able to find any hard-set rule that can tell you how many syllables are there in the word.
I found some conditions on the program and checked the result to the code on this online tool https://syllablecounter.net/count my guess is they have some list of words to exclude from counting or to be included even if they do not fall under basic conditions.
Wrote the below code to count the syllables in each word of the given phrase.
The program will continue to ask for phrase, Till you enter something other then y when asked to continue.
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <sstream>
using namespace std;
int main() {
while (true) {
cout << "Enter the string you want to count syllable for: ";
string phrase, word;
string vowels = "aeiou";
getline(cin, phrase);
//cout << phrase << endl;
stringstream X(phrase); // Object of stringstream that references the phrase string
// iterate on the words of phrase
while (getline(X, word, ' ')) {
// logic to find syllable in the word.
// Traverse the string
int syllable_count = 0;
// if word[0] in vowels count as syllable
if(vowels.find(tolower(word[0])) != std::string::npos)
syllable_count +=1;
// if word[index] in vowels and word[index - 1] not in vowels count as syllable
for (int i = 1; i < word.size(); i++) {
if(vowels.find(tolower(word[i])) != std::string::npos && vowels.find(tolower(word[i-1])) == std::string::npos)
syllable_count +=1;
}
// if word ends with 'e' it does not cout as syllable
if(tolower(word[word.size()-1]) == 'e')
syllable_count -=1;
// if word ends with 'le' and not of 2 char only and last 3rd word not in vowels it count as syllable
if((word.size() > 2) && (tolower(word[word.size()-1]) == 'e' && tolower(word[word.size()-2]) == 'l' ) && vowels.find(tolower(word[word.size()-3])) == std::string::npos)
syllable_count +=1;
// if word end with 'y' treet it as syllable
if(tolower(word[word.size()-1]) == 'y'){
syllable_count +=1;
// if word end with 'y' and have vowel in last second position count both char as one syllable.
if((word.size() > 2) && vowels.find(tolower(word[word.size()-2])) != std::string::npos)
syllable_count -=1;
}
if(syllable_count == 0)
syllable_count += 1;
cout << word << " : " << syllable_count << endl; // print word and syllable cout
}
cout << "Press y if you want to continue: ";
string stop;
getline(cin, stop);
if( stop != "y")
return 0;
}
return 0;
}
Sample result
Enter the string you want to count syllable for: troy
troy : 1
Press y if you want to continue: y
Enter the string you want to count syllable for: test
test : 1
Press y if you want to continue: y
Enter the string you want to count syllable for: hi how are you
hi : 1
how : 1
are : 1
you : 1
Press y if you want to continue: y
Enter the string you want to count syllable for: Harry hairy hare the
Harry : 2
hairy : 2
hare : 1
the : 1
Press y if you want to continue: n
You might need to add some conditions as you find certain cases. This problem is not something that can be worked with if else only.
Hope this helps.

Reduce a string when it has a pair

Shil has a string S , consisting of N lowercase English letters. In one operation, he can delete any pair of adjacent letters with same value. For example, string "aabcc" would become either "aab" or "bcc" after operation.
Shil wants to reduce S as much as possible. To do this, he will repeat the above operation as many times as it can be performed. Help Shil out by finding and printing 's non-reducible form!
If the final string is empty, print Empty String; otherwise, print the final non-reducible string.
Sample Input 0
aaabccddd
Sample Output 0
abd
Sample Input 1
baab
Sample Output 1
Empty String
Sample Input 2
aa
Sample Output 2
Empty String
Explanation
Sample Case 0: Shil can perform the following sequence of operations to get the final string:
Thus, we print .
Sample Case 1: Shil can perform the following sequence of operations to get the final string: aaabccddd -> abccddd
abccddd -> abddd
abddd -> abd
Thus we print abd
Sample case 1: baab -> bb
bb -> Empty String.
in my code in the while loop when i assign s[i] to str[i].the value of s[i] is not getting assigned to str[i].the str[i] has a garbage value.
my code :
int main() {
/* Enter your code here. Read input from STDIN. Print output to STDOUT */
string s;
cin>>s;
int len = s.length();
int len1 = 0;
string str;
for(int i = 0;i < len-1;i++){
if(s[i]!= '*'){
for(int j=i+1;j < len;j++){
if(s[j] != '*'){
if(s[i] == s[j]){
s[i] = s[j] = '*';
}
}
}
}
}
int i = 0;
while(i<len){
if(s[i] != '*'){
str[len1] = s[i];
len1++;
}
i++;
}
if(len1 != 0){
cout<<str;
}
else{
cout<<"Empty String";
}
return 0;
}
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main(){
string s,tempS;
bool condition = false;
cin >> s;
tempS = s;
while(condition==false){
for(int i=1; i<s.size(); i++){
if(s[i]==s[i-1]){
s.erase(s.begin()+i-1, s.begin()+i+1);
}
}
if(tempS == s){
condition = true;
} else{
tempS = s;
}
}
if(s.size()==0){
cout << "Empty String" ;
} else{
cout << s;
}
return 0;
}
the first while loop keeps on modifying the string until and unless it becomes equal to temp (which is equal to the string pre-modification)
It is comparing the adjacent elements if they are equal or not and then deleting them both.
As soon as string becomes equal to temp after modifications, string has reached it's most reduced state !

Sub sequence occurrence in a string

Given 2 strings like bangalore and blr, return whether one appears as a subsequence of the other. The above case returns true whereas bangalore and brl returns false.
Greedy strategy should work for this problem.
Find the first letter of the suspected substring (blr) in the big string (*b*angalore)
Find the second letter starting at the index of the first letter plus one (anga*l*ore)
Find the third letter starting at the index of the second letter plus one (o*r*e)
Continue until you can no longer find the next letter of blr in the string (no match), or you run out of letters in the subsequence (you have a match).
Here is a sample code in C++:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
int main() {
string txt = "quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog";
string s = "brownfoxzdog";
int pos = -1;
bool ok = true;
for (int i = 0 ; ok && i != s.size() ; i++) {
ok = (pos = txt.find(s[i], pos+1)) != string::npos;
}
cerr << (ok ? "Found" : "Not found") << endl;
return 0;
}
// Solution 1
public static boolean isSubSequence(String str1, String str2) {
int i = 0;
int j = 0;
while (i < str1.length() && j < str2.length()) {
if (str1.charAt(i) == str2.charAt(j)) {
i++;
j++;
} else {
i++;
}
}
return j == str2.length();
}
// Solution 2 using String indexOf method
public static boolean isSubSequenceUsingIndexOf(String mainStr, String subStr) {
int i = 0;
int index = 0;
while(i<subStr.length()) {
char c = subStr.charAt(i);
if((index = mainStr.indexOf(c, index)) == -1) {
return false;
}
i++;
}
return true;
}
O(N) solution, where N is the length of the substring.
bool subsequence( string s1, string s2 ){
int n1 = s1.length();
int n2 = s2.length();
if( n1 > n2 ){
return false;
}
int i = 0;
int j = 0;
while( i < n1 && j < n2 ){
if( s1[i] == s2[j] ){
i++;
}
j++;
}
return i == n1;
}
Find the length of the longest common subsequence. If it is equal to the length of small string, return true

How to find smallest substring which contains all characters from a given string?

I have recently come across an interesting question on strings. Suppose you are given following:
Input string1: "this is a test string"
Input string2: "tist"
Output string: "t stri"
So, given above, how can I approach towards finding smallest substring of string1 that contains all the characters from string 2?
To see more details including working code, check my blog post at:
http://www.leetcode.com/2010/11/finding-minimum-window-in-s-which.html
To help illustrate this approach, I use an example: string1 = "acbbaca" and string2 = "aba". Here, we also use the term "window", which means a contiguous block of characters from string1 (could be interchanged with the term substring).
i) string1 = "acbbaca" and string2 = "aba".
ii) The first minimum window is found.
Notice that we cannot advance begin
pointer as hasFound['a'] ==
needToFind['a'] == 2. Advancing would
mean breaking the constraint.
iii) The second window is found. begin
pointer still points to the first
element 'a'. hasFound['a'] (3) is
greater than needToFind['a'] (2). We
decrement hasFound['a'] by one and
advance begin pointer to the right.
iv) We skip 'c' since it is not found
in string2. Begin pointer now points to 'b'.
hasFound['b'] (2) is greater than
needToFind['b'] (1). We decrement
hasFound['b'] by one and advance begin
pointer to the right.
v) Begin pointer now points to the
next 'b'. hasFound['b'] (1) is equal
to needToFind['b'] (1). We stop
immediately and this is our newly
found minimum window.
The idea is mainly based on the help of two pointers (begin and end position of the window) and two tables (needToFind and hasFound) while traversing string1. needToFind stores the total count of a character in string2 and hasFound stores the total count of a character met so far. We also use a count variable to store the total characters in string2 that's met so far (not counting characters where hasFound[x] exceeds needToFind[x]). When count equals string2's length, we know a valid window is found.
Each time we advance the end pointer (pointing to an element x), we increment hasFound[x] by one. We also increment count by one if hasFound[x] is less than or equal to needToFind[x]. Why? When the constraint is met (that is, count equals to string2's size), we immediately advance begin pointer as far right as possible while maintaining the constraint.
How do we check if it is maintaining the constraint? Assume that begin points to an element x, we check if hasFound[x] is greater than needToFind[x]. If it is, we can decrement hasFound[x] by one and advancing begin pointer without breaking the constraint. On the other hand, if it is not, we stop immediately as advancing begin pointer breaks the window constraint.
Finally, we check if the minimum window length is less than the current minimum. Update the current minimum if a new minimum is found.
Essentially, the algorithm finds the first window that satisfies the constraint, then continue maintaining the constraint throughout.
You can do a histogram sweep in O(N+M) time and O(1) space where N is the number of characters in the first string and M is the number of characters in the second.
It works like this:
Make a histogram of the second string's characters (key operation is hist2[ s2[i] ]++).
Make a cumulative histogram of the first string's characters until that histogram contains every character that the second string's histogram contains (which I will call "the histogram condition").
Then move forwards on the first string, subtracting from the histogram, until it fails to meet the histogram condition. Mark that bit of the first string (before the final move) as your tentative substring.
Move the front of the substring forwards again until you meet the histogram condition again. Move the end forwards until it fails again. If this is a shorter substring than the first, mark that as your tentative substring.
Repeat until you've passed through the entire first string.
The marked substring is your answer.
Note that by varying the check you use on the histogram condition, you can choose either to have the same set of characters as the second string, or at least as many characters of each type. (Its just the difference between a[i]>0 && b[i]>0 and a[i]>=b[i].)
You can speed up the histogram checks if you keep a track of which condition is not satisfied when you're trying to satisfy it, and checking only the thing that you decrement when you're trying to break it. (On the initial buildup, you count how many items you've satisfied, and increment that count every time you add a new character that takes the condition from false to true.)
Here's an O(n) solution. The basic idea is simple: for each starting index, find the least ending index such that the substring contains all of the necessary letters. The trick is that the least ending index increases over the course of the function, so with a little data structure support, we consider each character at most twice.
In Python:
from collections import defaultdict
def smallest(s1, s2):
assert s2 != ''
d = defaultdict(int)
nneg = [0] # number of negative entries in d
def incr(c):
d[c] += 1
if d[c] == 0:
nneg[0] -= 1
def decr(c):
if d[c] == 0:
nneg[0] += 1
d[c] -= 1
for c in s2:
decr(c)
minlen = len(s1) + 1
j = 0
for i in xrange(len(s1)):
while nneg[0] > 0:
if j >= len(s1):
return minlen
incr(s1[j])
j += 1
minlen = min(minlen, j - i)
decr(s1[i])
return minlen
I received the same interview question. I am a C++ candidate but I was in a position to code relatively fast in JAVA.
Java [Courtesy : Sumod Mathilakath]
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
class UserMainCode
{
public String GetSubString(String input1,String input2){
// Write code here...
return find(input1, input2);
}
private static boolean containsPatternChar(int[] sCount, int[] pCount) {
for(int i=0;i<256;i++) {
if(pCount[i]>sCount[i])
return false;
}
return true;
}
public static String find(String s, String p) {
if (p.length() > s.length())
return null;
int[] pCount = new int[256];
int[] sCount = new int[256];
// Time: O(p.lenght)
for(int i=0;i<p.length();i++) {
pCount[(int)(p.charAt(i))]++;
sCount[(int)(s.charAt(i))]++;
}
int i = 0, j = p.length(), min = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
String res = null;
// Time: O(s.lenght)
while (j < s.length()) {
if (containsPatternChar(sCount, pCount)) {
if ((j - i) < min) {
min = j - i;
res = s.substring(i, j);
// This is the smallest possible substring.
if(min==p.length())
break;
// Reduce the window size.
sCount[(int)(s.charAt(i))]--;
i++;
}
} else {
sCount[(int)(s.charAt(j))]++;
// Increase the window size.
j++;
}
}
System.out.println(res);
return res;
}
}
C++ [Courtesy : sundeepblue]
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <string>
#include <climits>
using namespace std;
string find_minimum_window(string s, string t) {
if(s.empty() || t.empty()) return;
int ns = s.size(), nt = t.size();
vector<int> total(256, 0);
vector<int> sofar(256, 0);
for(int i=0; i<nt; i++)
total[t[i]]++;
int L = 0, R;
int minL = 0; //gist2
int count = 0;
int min_win_len = INT_MAX;
for(R=0; R<ns; R++) { // gist0, a big for loop
if(total[s[R]] == 0) continue;
else sofar[s[R]]++;
if(sofar[s[R]] <= total[s[R]]) // gist1, <= not <
count++;
if(count == nt) { // POS1
while(true) {
char c = s[L];
if(total[c] == 0) { L++; }
else if(sofar[c] > total[c]) {
sofar[c]--;
L++;
}
else break;
}
if(R - L + 1 < min_win_len) { // this judge should be inside POS1
min_win_len = R - L + 1;
minL = L;
}
}
}
string res;
if(count == nt) // gist3, cannot forget this.
res = s.substr(minL, min_win_len); // gist4, start from "minL" not "L"
return res;
}
int main() {
string s = "abdccdedca";
cout << find_minimum_window(s, "acd");
}
Erlang [Courtesy : wardbekker]
-module(leetcode).
-export([min_window/0]).
%% Given a string S and a string T, find the minimum window in S which will contain all the characters in T in complexity O(n).
%% For example,
%% S = "ADOBECODEBANC"
%% T = "ABC"
%% Minimum window is "BANC".
%% Note:
%% If there is no such window in S that covers all characters in T, return the emtpy string "".
%% If there are multiple such windows, you are guaranteed that there will always be only one unique minimum window in S.
min_window() ->
"eca" = min_window("cabeca", "cae"),
"eca" = min_window("cfabeca", "cae"),
"aec" = min_window("cabefgecdaecf", "cae"),
"cwae" = min_window("cabwefgewcwaefcf", "cae"),
"BANC" = min_window("ADOBECODEBANC", "ABC"),
ok.
min_window(T, S) ->
min_window(T, S, []).
min_window([], _T, MinWindow) ->
MinWindow;
min_window([H | Rest], T, MinWindow) ->
NewMinWindow = case lists:member(H, T) of
true ->
MinWindowFound = fullfill_window(Rest, lists:delete(H, T), [H]),
case length(MinWindow) == 0 orelse (length(MinWindow) > length(MinWindowFound)
andalso length(MinWindowFound) > 0) of
true ->
MinWindowFound;
false ->
MinWindow
end;
false ->
MinWindow
end,
min_window(Rest, T, NewMinWindow).
fullfill_window(_, [], Acc) ->
%% window completed
Acc;
fullfill_window([], _T, _Acc) ->
%% no window found
"";
fullfill_window([H | Rest], T, Acc) ->
%% completing window
case lists:member(H, T) of
true ->
fullfill_window(Rest, lists:delete(H, T), Acc ++ [H]);
false ->
fullfill_window(Rest, T, Acc ++ [H])
end.
REF:
http://articles.leetcode.com/finding-minimum-window-in-s-which/#comment-511216
http://www.mif.vu.lt/~valdas/ALGORITMAI/LITERATURA/Cormen/Cormen.pdf
Please have a look at this as well:
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------
bool IsInSet(char ch, char* cSet)
{
char* cSetptr = cSet;
int index = 0;
while (*(cSet+ index) != '\0')
{
if(ch == *(cSet+ index))
{
return true;
}
++index;
}
return false;
}
void removeChar(char ch, char* cSet)
{
bool bShift = false;
int index = 0;
while (*(cSet + index) != '\0')
{
if( (ch == *(cSet + index)) || bShift)
{
*(cSet + index) = *(cSet + index + 1);
bShift = true;
}
++index;
}
}
typedef struct subStr
{
short iStart;
short iEnd;
short szStr;
}ss;
char* subStringSmallest(char* testStr, char* cSet)
{
char* subString = NULL;
int iSzSet = strlen(cSet) + 1;
int iSzString = strlen(testStr)+ 1;
char* cSetBackUp = new char[iSzSet];
memcpy((void*)cSetBackUp, (void*)cSet, iSzSet);
int iStartIndx = -1;
int iEndIndx = -1;
int iIndexStartNext = -1;
std::vector<ss> subStrVec;
int index = 0;
while( *(testStr+index) != '\0' )
{
if (IsInSet(*(testStr+index), cSetBackUp))
{
removeChar(*(testStr+index), cSetBackUp);
if(iStartIndx < 0)
{
iStartIndx = index;
}
else if( iIndexStartNext < 0)
iIndexStartNext = index;
else
;
if (strlen(cSetBackUp) == 0 )
{
iEndIndx = index;
if( iIndexStartNext == -1)
break;
else
{
index = iIndexStartNext;
ss stemp = {iStartIndx, iEndIndx, (iEndIndx-iStartIndx + 1)};
subStrVec.push_back(stemp);
iStartIndx = iEndIndx = iIndexStartNext = -1;
memcpy((void*)cSetBackUp, (void*)cSet, iSzSet);
continue;
}
}
}
else
{
if (IsInSet(*(testStr+index), cSet))
{
if(iIndexStartNext < 0)
iIndexStartNext = index;
}
}
++index;
}
int indexSmallest = 0;
for(int indexVec = 0; indexVec < subStrVec.size(); ++indexVec)
{
if(subStrVec[indexSmallest].szStr > subStrVec[indexVec].szStr)
indexSmallest = indexVec;
}
subString = new char[(subStrVec[indexSmallest].szStr) + 1];
memcpy((void*)subString, (void*)(testStr+ subStrVec[indexSmallest].iStart), subStrVec[indexSmallest].szStr);
memset((void*)(subString + subStrVec[indexSmallest].szStr), 0, 1);
delete[] cSetBackUp;
return subString;
}
//--------------------------------------------------------------------
Edit: apparently there's an O(n) algorithm (cf. algorithmist's answer). Obviously this have this will beat the [naive] baseline described below!
Too bad I gotta go... I'm a bit suspicious that we can get O(n). I'll check in tomorrow to see the winner ;-) Have fun!
Tentative algorithm:
The general idea is to sequentially try and use a character from str2 found in str1 as the start of a search (in either/both directions) of all the other letters of str2. By keeping a "length of best match so far" value, we can abort searches when they exceed this. Other heuristics can probably be used to further abort suboptimal (so far) solutions. The choice of the order of the starting letters in str1 matters much; it is suggested to start with the letter(s) of str1 which have the lowest count and to try with the other letters, of an increasing count, in subsequent attempts.
[loose pseudo-code]
- get count for each letter/character in str1 (number of As, Bs etc.)
- get count for each letter in str2
- minLen = length(str1) + 1 (the +1 indicates you're not sure all chars of
str2 are in str1)
- Starting with the letter from string2 which is found the least in string1,
look for other letters of Str2, in either direction of str1, until you've
found them all (or not, at which case response = impossible => done!).
set x = length(corresponding substring of str1).
- if (x < minLen),
set minlen = x,
also memorize the start/len of the str1 substring.
- continue trying with other letters of str1 (going the up the frequency
list in str1), but abort search as soon as length(substring of strl)
reaches or exceed minLen.
We can find a few other heuristics that would allow aborting a
particular search, based on [pre-calculated ?] distance between a given
letter in str1 and some (all?) of the letters in str2.
- the overall search terminates when minLen = length(str2) or when
we've used all letters of str1 (which match one letter of str2)
as a starting point for the search
Here is Java implementation
public static String shortestSubstrContainingAllChars(String input, String target) {
int needToFind[] = new int[256];
int hasFound[] = new int[256];
int totalCharCount = 0;
String result = null;
char[] targetCharArray = target.toCharArray();
for (int i = 0; i < targetCharArray.length; i++) {
needToFind[targetCharArray[i]]++;
}
char[] inputCharArray = input.toCharArray();
for (int begin = 0, end = 0; end < inputCharArray.length; end++) {
if (needToFind[inputCharArray[end]] == 0) {
continue;
}
hasFound[inputCharArray[end]]++;
if (hasFound[inputCharArray[end]] <= needToFind[inputCharArray[end]]) {
totalCharCount ++;
}
if (totalCharCount == target.length()) {
while (needToFind[inputCharArray[begin]] == 0
|| hasFound[inputCharArray[begin]] > needToFind[inputCharArray[begin]]) {
if (hasFound[inputCharArray[begin]] > needToFind[inputCharArray[begin]]) {
hasFound[inputCharArray[begin]]--;
}
begin++;
}
String substring = input.substring(begin, end + 1);
if (result == null || result.length() > substring.length()) {
result = substring;
}
}
}
return result;
}
Here is the Junit Test
#Test
public void shortestSubstringContainingAllCharsTest() {
String result = StringUtil.shortestSubstrContainingAllChars("acbbaca", "aba");
assertThat(result, equalTo("baca"));
result = StringUtil.shortestSubstrContainingAllChars("acbbADOBECODEBANCaca", "ABC");
assertThat(result, equalTo("BANC"));
result = StringUtil.shortestSubstrContainingAllChars("this is a test string", "tist");
assertThat(result, equalTo("t stri"));
}
//[ShortestSubstring.java][1]
public class ShortestSubstring {
public static void main(String[] args) {
String input1 = "My name is Fran";
String input2 = "rim";
System.out.println(getShortestSubstring(input1, input2));
}
private static String getShortestSubstring(String mainString, String toBeSearched) {
int mainStringLength = mainString.length();
int toBeSearchedLength = toBeSearched.length();
if (toBeSearchedLength > mainStringLength) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("search string cannot be larger than main string");
}
for (int j = 0; j < mainStringLength; j++) {
for (int i = 0; i <= mainStringLength - toBeSearchedLength; i++) {
String substring = mainString.substring(i, i + toBeSearchedLength);
if (checkIfMatchFound(substring, toBeSearched)) {
return substring;
}
}
toBeSearchedLength++;
}
return null;
}
private static boolean checkIfMatchFound(String substring, String toBeSearched) {
char[] charArraySubstring = substring.toCharArray();
char[] charArrayToBeSearched = toBeSearched.toCharArray();
int count = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < charArraySubstring.length; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < charArrayToBeSearched.length; j++) {
if (String.valueOf(charArraySubstring[i]).equalsIgnoreCase(String.valueOf(charArrayToBeSearched[j]))) {
count++;
}
}
}
return count == charArrayToBeSearched.length;
}
}
This is an approach using prime numbers to avoid one loop, and replace it with multiplications. Several other minor optimizations can be made.
Assign a unique prime number to any of the characters that you want to find, and 1 to the uninteresting characters.
Find the product of a matching string by multiplying the prime number with the number of occurrences it should have. Now this product can only be found if the same prime factors are used.
Search the string from the beginning, multiplying the respective prime number as you move into a running product.
If the number is greater than the correct sum, remove the first character and divide its prime number out of your running product.
If the number is less than the correct sum, include the next character and multiply it into your running product.
If the number is the same as the correct sum you have found a match, slide beginning and end to next character and continue searching for other matches.
Decide which of the matches is the shortest.
Gist
charcount = { 'a': 3, 'b' : 1 };
str = "kjhdfsbabasdadaaaaasdkaaajbajerhhayeom"
def find (c, s):
Ns = len (s)
C = list (c.keys ())
D = list (c.values ())
# prime numbers assigned to the first 25 chars
prmsi = [ 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89 , 97]
# primes used in the key, all other set to 1
prms = []
Cord = [ord(c) - ord('a') for c in C]
for e,p in enumerate(prmsi):
if e in Cord:
prms.append (p)
else:
prms.append (1)
# Product of match
T = 1
for c,d in zip(C,D):
p = prms[ord (c) - ord('a')]
T *= p**d
print ("T=", T)
t = 1 # product of current string
f = 0
i = 0
matches = []
mi = 0
mn = Ns
mm = 0
while i < Ns:
k = prms[ord(s[i]) - ord ('a')]
t *= k
print ("testing:", s[f:i+1])
if (t > T):
# included too many chars: move start
t /= prms[ord(s[f]) - ord('a')] # remove first char, usually division by 1
f += 1 # increment start position
t /= k # will be retested, could be replaced with bool
elif t == T:
# found match
print ("FOUND match:", s[f:i+1])
matches.append (s[f:i+1])
if (i - f) < mn:
mm = mi
mn = i - f
mi += 1
t /= prms[ord(s[f]) - ord('a')] # remove first matching char
# look for next match
i += 1
f += 1
else:
# no match yet, keep searching
i += 1
return (mm, matches)
print (find (charcount, str))
(note: this answer was originally posted to a duplicate question, the original answer is now deleted.)
C# Implementation:
public static Tuple<int, int> FindMinSubstringWindow(string input, string pattern)
{
Tuple<int, int> windowCoords = new Tuple<int, int>(0, input.Length - 1);
int[] patternHist = new int[256];
for (int i = 0; i < pattern.Length; i++)
{
patternHist[pattern[i]]++;
}
int[] inputHist = new int[256];
int minWindowLength = int.MaxValue;
int count = 0;
for (int begin = 0, end = 0; end < input.Length; end++)
{
// Skip what's not in pattern.
if (patternHist[input[end]] == 0)
{
continue;
}
inputHist[input[end]]++;
// Count letters that are in pattern.
if (inputHist[input[end]] <= patternHist[input[end]])
{
count++;
}
// Window found.
if (count == pattern.Length)
{
// Remove extra instances of letters from pattern
// or just letters that aren't part of the pattern
// from the beginning.
while (patternHist[input[begin]] == 0 ||
inputHist[input[begin]] > patternHist[input[begin]])
{
if (inputHist[input[begin]] > patternHist[input[begin]])
{
inputHist[input[begin]]--;
}
begin++;
}
// Current window found.
int windowLength = end - begin + 1;
if (windowLength < minWindowLength)
{
windowCoords = new Tuple<int, int>(begin, end);
minWindowLength = windowLength;
}
}
}
if (count == pattern.Length)
{
return windowCoords;
}
return null;
}
I've implemented it using Python3 at O(N) efficiency:
def get(s, alphabet="abc"):
seen = {}
for c in alphabet:
seen[c] = 0
seen[s[0]] = 1
start = 0
end = 0
shortest_s = 0
shortest_e = 99999
while end + 1 < len(s):
while seen[s[start]] > 1:
seen[s[start]] -= 1
start += 1
# Constant time check:
if sum(seen.values()) == len(alphabet) and all(v == 1 for v in seen.values()) and \
shortest_e - shortest_s > end - start:
shortest_s = start
shortest_e = end
end += 1
seen[s[end]] += 1
return s[shortest_s: shortest_e + 1]
print(get("abbcac")) # Expected to return "bca"
String s = "xyyzyzyx";
String s1 = "xyz";
String finalString ="";
Map<Character,Integer> hm = new HashMap<>();
if(s1!=null && s!=null && s.length()>s1.length()){
for(int i =0;i<s1.length();i++){
if(hm.get(s1.charAt(i))!=null){
int k = hm.get(s1.charAt(i))+1;
hm.put(s1.charAt(i), k);
}else
hm.put(s1.charAt(i), 1);
}
Map<Character,Integer> t = new HashMap<>();
int start =-1;
for(int j=0;j<s.length();j++){
if(hm.get(s.charAt(j))!=null){
if(t.get(s.charAt(j))!=null){
if(t.get(s.charAt(j))!=hm.get(s.charAt(j))){
int k = t.get(s.charAt(j))+1;
t.put(s.charAt(j), k);
}
}else{
t.put(s.charAt(j), 1);
if(start==-1){
if(j+s1.length()>s.length()){
break;
}
start = j;
}
}
if(hm.equals(t)){
t = new HashMap<>();
if(finalString.length()<s.substring(start,j+1).length());
{
finalString=s.substring(start,j+1);
}
j=start;
start=-1;
}
}
}
JavaScript solution in bruteforce way:
function shortestSubStringOfUniqueChars(s){
var uniqueArr = [];
for(let i=0; i<s.length; i++){
if(uniqueArr.indexOf(s.charAt(i)) <0){
uniqueArr.push(s.charAt(i));
}
}
let windoww = uniqueArr.length;
while(windoww < s.length){
for(let i=0; i<s.length - windoww; i++){
let match = true;
let tempArr = [];
for(let j=0; j<uniqueArr.length; j++){
if(uniqueArr.indexOf(s.charAt(i+j))<0){
match = false;
break;
}
}
let checkStr
if(match){
checkStr = s.substr(i, windoww);
for(let j=0; j<uniqueArr.length; j++){
if(uniqueArr.indexOf(checkStr.charAt(j))<0){
match = false;
break;
}
}
}
if(match){
return checkStr;
}
}
windoww = windoww + 1;
}
}
console.log(shortestSubStringOfUniqueChars("ABA"));
# Python implementation
s = input('Enter the string : ')
s1 = input('Enter the substring to search : ')
l = [] # List to record all the matching combinations
check = all([char in s for char in s1])
if check == True:
for i in range(len(s1),len(s)+1) :
for j in range(0,i+len(s1)+2):
if (i+j) < len(s)+1:
cnt = 0
b = all([char in s[j:i+j] for char in s1])
if (b == True) :
l.append(s[j:i+j])
print('The smallest substring containing',s1,'is',l[0])
else:
print('Please enter a valid substring')
Java code for the approach discussed above:
private static Map<Character, Integer> frequency;
private static Set<Character> charsCovered;
private static Map<Character, Integer> encountered;
/**
* To set the first match index as an intial start point
*/
private static boolean hasStarted = false;
private static int currentStartIndex = 0;
private static int finalStartIndex = 0;
private static int finalEndIndex = 0;
private static int minLen = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
private static int currentLen = 0;
/**
* Whether we have already found the match and now looking for other
* alternatives.
*/
private static boolean isFound = false;
private static char currentChar;
public static String findSmallestSubStringWithAllChars(String big, String small) {
if (null == big || null == small || big.isEmpty() || small.isEmpty()) {
return null;
}
frequency = new HashMap<Character, Integer>();
instantiateFrequencyMap(small);
charsCovered = new HashSet<Character>();
int charsToBeCovered = frequency.size();
encountered = new HashMap<Character, Integer>();
for (int i = 0; i < big.length(); i++) {
currentChar = big.charAt(i);
if (frequency.containsKey(currentChar) && !isFound) {
if (!hasStarted && !isFound) {
hasStarted = true;
currentStartIndex = i;
}
updateEncounteredMapAndCharsCoveredSet(currentChar);
if (charsCovered.size() == charsToBeCovered) {
currentLen = i - currentStartIndex;
isFound = true;
updateMinLength(i);
}
} else if (frequency.containsKey(currentChar) && isFound) {
updateEncounteredMapAndCharsCoveredSet(currentChar);
if (currentChar == big.charAt(currentStartIndex)) {
encountered.put(currentChar, encountered.get(currentChar) - 1);
currentStartIndex++;
while (currentStartIndex < i) {
if (encountered.containsKey(big.charAt(currentStartIndex))
&& encountered.get(big.charAt(currentStartIndex)) > frequency.get(big
.charAt(currentStartIndex))) {
encountered.put(big.charAt(currentStartIndex),
encountered.get(big.charAt(currentStartIndex)) - 1);
} else if (encountered.containsKey(big.charAt(currentStartIndex))) {
break;
}
currentStartIndex++;
}
}
currentLen = i - currentStartIndex;
updateMinLength(i);
}
}
System.out.println("start: " + finalStartIndex + " finalEnd : " + finalEndIndex);
return big.substring(finalStartIndex, finalEndIndex + 1);
}
private static void updateMinLength(int index) {
if (minLen > currentLen) {
minLen = currentLen;
finalStartIndex = currentStartIndex;
finalEndIndex = index;
}
}
private static void updateEncounteredMapAndCharsCoveredSet(Character currentChar) {
if (encountered.containsKey(currentChar)) {
encountered.put(currentChar, encountered.get(currentChar) + 1);
} else {
encountered.put(currentChar, 1);
}
if (encountered.get(currentChar) >= frequency.get(currentChar)) {
charsCovered.add(currentChar);
}
}
private static void instantiateFrequencyMap(String str) {
for (char c : str.toCharArray()) {
if (frequency.containsKey(c)) {
frequency.put(c, frequency.get(c) + 1);
} else {
frequency.put(c, 1);
}
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
String big = "this is a test string";
String small = "tist";
System.out.println("len: " + big.length());
System.out.println(findSmallestSubStringWithAllChars(big, small));
}
def minimum_window(s, t, min_length = 100000):
d = {}
for x in t:
if x in d:
d[x]+= 1
else:
d[x] = 1
tot = sum([y for x,y in d.iteritems()])
l = []
ind = 0
for i,x in enumerate(s):
if ind == 1:
l = l + [x]
if x in d:
tot-=1
if not l:
ind = 1
l = [x]
if tot == 0:
if len(l)<min_length:
min_length = len(l)
min_length = minimum_window(s[i+1:], t, min_length)
return min_length
l_s = "ADOBECODEBANC"
t_s = "ABC"
min_length = minimum_window(l_s, t_s)
if min_length == 100000:
print "Not found"
else:
print min_length

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