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Given a string str and an array of strings arr[] of size N, the task is to print a string from arr[], which has maximum count of matching characters with str.

Examples:

Input: str = “vikas”, N = 3, arr[] = [“preeti”, “khusbu”, “katherina”] 
Output: “katherina” 
Explanation: 
Number of similar characters between Str and each string in D[ ] are,  
“preeti” = 1 
“khusbu” = 2 
“katherina” = 3 
Hence, “katherina” has maximum matching characters.

Input: str = “gfg”, N = 3, arr[] = [“goal”, “fog”, “abc”] 
Output: “fog” 
Explanation:
Number of similar characters between Str and each string in D[ ] are,  
“goal” = 1 
“fog” = 2 
“abc” = 0 
Hence, “fog” has maximum matching characters.

Approach: The idea is to consider each string of array arr[], and compare each of its character with the given string str. Keep track of the maximum number of matching characters and corresponding string. Also, make sure to remove the duplicates from each string. Below are the steps:

  1. Create a variable maxVal and a variable val, to keep track of maximum number of matching characters and corresponding string respectively.
  2. Traverse the array arr[] and remove duplicates from each string. Also, remove duplicates from Str.
  3. For each string of arr[], compare it with the given string str, and count the number of matching characters.
  4. Keep updating maxVal with the maximum number of matching characters and val with corresponding string.
  5. Finally, print the value of val after the above operations.

Below is the implementation of the above approach:

Java




// Java program for the above approach
import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;
 
public class GFG {
 
    // Function that print string which
    // has maximum similar characters
    private static void
    maxMatchingChar(ArrayList<String> list,
                    int n, char ch[])
    {
 
        String val = "";
 
        int maxVal = Integer.MIN_VALUE;
 
        for (String s : list) {
 
            // Count matching characters
            int matchingchar = matchingChar(
                s.toLowerCase(), ch);
 
            // Update maxVal if needed
            if (matchingchar > maxVal) {
                maxVal = matchingchar;
                val = s;
            }
        }
 
        System.out.print(val + " ");
    }
 
    // Function that returns the count
    // of number of matching characters
    private static int matchingChar(
        String s, char[] ch)
    {
 
        int freq = 0, c = ch.length;
 
        // Traverse the character array
        for (int i = 0; i < c; i++) {
 
            // If character matches
            // then increment the count
            if (s.contains(
                    String.valueOf(ch[i]))) {
                freq++;
            }
        }
 
        return freq;
    }
 
    // Function to remove duplicate
    // characters
    private static char[] removeDuplicate(String str)
    {
        // To keep unique character only
        HashSet<Character> set
            = new HashSet<Character>();
 
        int c = str.length();
 
        // Inserting character in hashset
        for (int i = 0; i < c; i++) {
 
            set.add(str.charAt(i));
        }
 
        char arr[] = new char[set.size()];
        int index = 0;
 
        // Update string with unique characters
        for (char s : set) {
 
            arr[index] = s;
            index++;
        }
 
        // Return the char array
        return arr;
    }
 
    // Driver Code
    public static void main(
        String[] args) throws Exception
    {
        int n = 3;
        String str = "Vikas";
        String D[] = { "preeti", "khusbu", "katherina" };
 
        // Removing duplicate and
        // convert to lowercase
        char ch[]
            = removeDuplicate(str.toLowerCase());
 
        ArrayList<String> list
            = new ArrayList<String>();
 
        // Insert each string in the list
        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
 
            list.add(D[i]);
        }
 
        // Function Call
        maxMatchingChar(list, n, ch);
    }
}


Python3




# Python3 program for the above approach
import sys
 
# Function that print string which
# has maximum similar characters
def maxMatchingChar(list, n, ch):
     
    val = ""
    maxVal = -sys.maxsize - 1
 
    for s in list:
 
        # Count matching characters
        matchingchar = matchingChar(s.lower(), ch)
 
        # Update maxVal if needed
        if (matchingchar > maxVal):
            maxVal = matchingchar
            val = s
             
    print(val, end = " ")
 
# Function that returns the count
# of number of matching characters
def matchingChar(s, ch):
     
    freq = 0
    c = len(ch)
 
    # Traverse the character array
    for i in range(c):
 
        # If character matches
        # then increment the count
        if ch[i] in s:
            freq += 1
             
    return freq
 
# Driver Code
n = 3
str = "Vikas"
D = [ "preeti", "khusbu", "katherina" ]
 
# Remove duplicate characters and
# convert to lowercase
ch = list(set(str.lower()))
List = []
 
# Insert each string in the list
for i in range(n):
    List.append(D[i])
 
# Function call
maxMatchingChar(List, n, ch)
 
# This code is contributed by avanitrachhadiya2155


C#




// C# program for the above approach
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
 
class GFG{
 
// Function that print string which
// has maximum similar characters
private static void maxMatchingChar(List<String> list,
                                    int n, char []ch)
{
    String val = "";
 
    int maxVal = int.MinValue;
 
    foreach(String s in list)
    {
 
        // Count matching characters
        int matchingchar = matchingChar(
                           s.ToLower(), ch);
 
        // Update maxVal if needed
        if (matchingchar > maxVal)
        {
            maxVal = matchingchar;
            val = s;
        }
    }
    Console.Write(val + " ");
}
 
// Function that returns the count
// of number of matching characters
private static int matchingChar(String s, char[] ch)
{
    int freq = 0, c = ch.Length;
 
    // Traverse the character array
    for(int i = 0; i < c; i++)
    {
 
        // If character matches
        // then increment the count
        if (s.Contains(String.Join("", ch[i])))
        {
            freq++;
        }
    }
    return freq;
}
 
// Function to remove duplicate
// characters
private static char[] removeDuplicate(String str)
{
     
    // To keep unique character only
    HashSet<char> set = new HashSet<char>();
 
    int c = str.Length;
 
    // Inserting character in hashset
    for(int i = 0; i < c; i++)
    {
        set.Add(str[i]);
    }
 
    char []arr = new char[set.Count];
    int index = 0;
 
    // Update string with unique characters
    foreach(char s in set)
    {
        arr[index] = s;
        index++;
    }
 
    // Return the char array
    return arr;
}
 
// Driver Code
public static void Main(String[] args)
{
    int n = 3;
    String str = "Vikas";
    String []D = { "preeti", "khusbu",
                   "katherina" };
 
    // Removing duplicate and
    // convert to lowercase
    char []ch = removeDuplicate(str.ToLower());
 
    List<String> list = new List<String>();
 
    // Insert each string in the list
    for(int i = 0; i < n; i++)
    {
        list.Add(D[i]);
    }
 
    // Function call
    maxMatchingChar(list, n, ch);
}
}
 
// This code is contributed by Rohit_ranjan


C++




#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
 
// Function that returns the count
// of number of matching characters
int matchingChar(string s, char ch[], int c) {
  int freq = 0;
  // Traverse the character array
  for (int i = 0; i < c; i++) {
    // If character matches
    // then increment the count
    if (s.find(ch[i]) != string::npos) {
      freq++;
    }
  }
  return freq;
}
 
// Function to remove duplicate
// characters
char* removeDuplicate(string str) {
  // To keep unique character only
  unordered_set<char> set;
  int c = str.length();
  // Inserting character in hashset
  for (int i = 0; i < c; i++) {
    set.insert(tolower(str[i]));
  }
  char *arr = new char[set.size()];
  int index = 0;
  // Update string with unique characters
  for (char s : set) {
    arr[index] = s;
    index++;
  }
  // Return the char array
  return arr;
}
 
// Function that print string which
// has maximum similar characters
void maxMatchingChar(vector<string> list, int n, char ch[], int c) {
  string val = "";
  int maxVal = INT_MIN;
  for (string s : list) {
    // Count matching characters
    int matchingchar = matchingChar(s, ch, c);
    // Update maxVal if needed
    if (matchingchar > maxVal) {
      maxVal = matchingchar;
      val = s;
    }
  }
  cout << val << " ";
}
 
int main() {
  int n = 3;
  string str = "Vikas";
  string D[] = { "preeti", "khusbu", "katherina" };
 
  // Removing duplicate and
  // convert to lowercase
  char *ch = removeDuplicate(str);
  int c = strlen(ch);
 
  vector<string> list;
  // Insert each string in the list
  for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
    list.push_back(D[i]);
  }
 
  // Function Call
  maxMatchingChar(list, n, ch, c);
 
  return 0;
}


Javascript




function maxMatchingChar(list, n, ch)
{
 
  let val = "";
  let maxVal = -Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER;
 
  for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
    let s = list[i];
 
    // Count matching characters
    let matchingchar = matchingChar(s.toLowerCase(), ch);
 
    // Update maxVal if needed
    if (matchingchar > maxVal) {
      maxVal = matchingchar;
      val = s;
    }
  }
 
  console.log(val + " ");
}
 
function matchingChar(s, ch) {
 
  let freq = 0;
  let c = ch.length;
 
  // Traverse the character array
  for (let i = 0; i < c; i++) {
 
    // If character matches then increment the count
    if (s.includes(ch[i])) {
      freq += 1;
    }
  }
 
  return freq;
}
 
// Driver Code
let n = 3;
let str = "Vikas";
let D = [ "preeti", "khusbu", "katherina" ];
 
// Remove duplicate characters and convert to lowercase
let ch = Array.from(new Set(str.toLowerCase()));
let list = [];
 
// Insert each string in the list
for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
  list.push(D[i]);
}
 
// Function call
maxMatchingChar(list, n, ch);


Output: 

katherina

Time Complexity: O(N*M) where M is the maximum length of a string.
Auxiliary space: O(M)



Last Updated : 17 Feb, 2023
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