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Print shortest path to print a string on screen

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Given a screen containing alphabets from A-Z, we can go from one character to another characters using a remote. The remote contains left, right, top and bottom keys.
Find shortest possible path to type all characters of given string using the remote. Initial position is top left and all characters of input string should be printed in order.
Screen: 
 

A B C D E
F G H I J
K L M N O
P Q R S T
U V W X Y
Z

Example: 
 

Input: “GEEK”
Output: 
Move Down
Move Right
Press OK
Move Up
Move Right
Move Right
Move Right
Press OK
Press OK
Move Left
Move Left
Move Left
Move Left
Move Down
Move Down
Press OK

 

Recommended Practice

The idea is to consider screen as 2D-matrix of characters. Then we consider all characters of given string one by one and print out the shortest path between current character and next character in the matrix. In order to find shortest path, we consider the coordinates of current character and next character in the matrix. Based on the difference between x and y values of current and next character’s coordinates, we move left, right, top or bottom. i.e. 
 

If row difference is negative, we move up
If row difference is positive, we move down
If column difference is negative, we go left
If column difference is positive, we go right

Below is implementation of above idea
 

C++




// C++ program to print shortest possible path to
// type all characters of given string using a remote
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
 
// Function to print shortest possible path to
// type all characters of given string using a remote
void printPath(string str)
{
    int i = 0;
    // start from character 'A' present at position (0, 0)
    int curX = 0, curY = 0;
    while (i < str.length())
    {
        // find coordinates of next character
        int nextX = (str[i] - 'A') / 5;
        int nextY = (str[i] - 'B' + 1) % 5;
 
        // Move Up if destination is above
        while (curX > nextX)
        {
            cout << "Move Up" << endl;
            curX--;
        }
 
        // Move Left if destination is to the left
        while (curY > nextY)
        {
            cout << "Move Left" << endl;
            curY--;
        }
 
        // Move down if destination is below
        while (curX < nextX)
        {
            cout << "Move Down" << endl;
            curX++;
        }
 
        // Move Right if destination is to the right
        while (curY < nextY)
        {
            cout << "Move Right" << endl;
            curY++;
        }
 
        // At this point, destination is reached
        cout << "Press OK" << endl;
        i++;
    }
}
 
// Driver code
int main()
{
    string str = "COZY";
 
    printPath(str);
 
    return 0;
}


Java




// Java program to print shortest possible path to
// type all characters of given string using a remote
 
class GFG
{
    // Function to print shortest possible path to
    // type all characters of given string using a remote
    static void printPath(String str)
    {
        int i = 0;
        // start from character 'A' present at position (0, 0)
        int curX = 0, curY = 0;
        while (i < str.length())
        {
            // find coordinates of next character
            int nextX = (str.charAt(i) - 'A') / 5;
            int nextY = (str.charAt(i) - 'B' + 1) % 5;
  
            // Move Up if destination is above
            while (curX > nextX)
            {
                System.out.println("Move Up");
                curX--;
            }
  
            // Move Left if destination is to the left
            while (curY > nextY)
            {
                System.out.println("Move Left");
                curY--;
            }
  
            // Move down if destination is below
            while (curX < nextX)
            {
                System.out.println("Move Down");
                curX++;
            }
  
            // Move Right if destination is to the right
            while (curY < nextY)
            {
                System.out.println("Move Right");
                curY++;
            }
  
            // At this point, destination is reached
            System.out.println("Press OK");
            i++;
        }
    }
     
    // driver program
    public static void main (String[] args)
    {
        String str = "COZY";
        printPath(str);
    }
}
 
// Contributed by Pramod Kumar


Python3




# Python 3 program to print shortest possible
# path to type all characters of given string
# using a remote
 
# Function to print shortest possible path
# to type all characters of given string
# using a remote
def printPath(str):
    i = 0
     
    # start from character 'A' present
    # at position (0, 0)
    curX = 0
    curY = 0
    while (i < len(str)):
         
        # find coordinates of next character
        nextX = int((ord(str[i]) - ord('A')) / 5)
        nextY = (ord(str[i]) - ord('B') + 1) % 5
 
        # Move Up if destination is above
        while (curX > nextX):
            print("Move Up")
            curX -= 1
 
        # Move Left if destination is to the left
        while (curY > nextY):
            print("Move Left")
            curY -= 1
 
        # Move down if destination is below
        while (curX < nextX):
            print("Move Down")
            curX += 1
 
        # Move Right if destination is to the right
        while (curY < nextY):
            print("Move Right")
            curY += 1
 
        # At this point, destination is reached
        print("Press OK")
        i += 1
 
# Driver code
if __name__ == '__main__':
    str = "COZY"
 
    printPath(str)
 
# This code is contributed by
# Sanjit_Prasad


C#




// C# program to print shortest
// possible path to type all
// characters of given string
// using a remote
using System;
 
class GFG {
     
    // Function to print shortest
    // possible path to type all
    // characters of given string
    // using a remote
    static void printPath(String str)
    {
        int i = 0;
         
        // start from character 'A'
        // present at position (0, 0)
        int curX = 0, curY = 0;
        while (i < str.Length)
        {
             
            // find coordinates of
            // next character
            int nextX = (str[i] - 'A') / 5;
            int nextY = (str[i] - 'B' + 1) % 5;
 
            // Move Up if destination
            // is above
            while (curX > nextX)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Move Up");
                curX--;
            }
 
            // Move Left if destination
            // is to the left
            while (curY > nextY)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Move Left");
                curY--;
            }
 
            // Move down if destination
            // is below
            while (curX < nextX)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Move Down");
                curX++;
            }
 
            // Move Right if destination
            // is to the right
            while (curY < nextY)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Move Right");
                curY++;
            }
 
            // At this point, destination
            // is reached
            Console.WriteLine("Press OK");
            i++;
        }
    }
     
    // Driver Code
    public static void Main ()
    {
        String str = "COZY";
        printPath(str);
    }
}
 
// This Code is contributed by nitin mittal.


PHP




<?php
// PHP program to print shortest possible path to
// type all characters of given string using a remote
 
// Function to print shortest possible path to
// type all characters of given string using a remote
function printPath($str)
{
    $i = 0;
    // start from character 'A' present at position (0, 0)
    $curX = $curY = 0;
    while ($i < strlen($str))
    {
        // find coordinates of next character
        $nextX = (int)((ord($str[$i]) - ord('A')) / 5);
        $nextY = (ord($str[$i]) - ord('B') + 1) % 5;
 
        // Move Up if destination is above
        while ($curX > $nextX)
        {
            echo "Move Up\n";
            $curX--;
        }
 
        // Move Left if destination is to the left
        while ($curY > $nextY)
        {
            echo "Move Left\n";
            $curY--;
        }
 
        // Move down if destination is below
        while ($curX < $nextX)
        {
            echo "Move Down\n";
            $curX++;
        }
 
        // Move Right if destination is to the right
        while ($curY < $nextY)
        {
            echo "Move Right\n";
            $curY++;
        }
 
        // At this point, destination is reached
        echo "Press OK\n";
        $i++;
    }
}
 
// Driver code
    $str = "COZY";
 
    printPath($str);
 
 
// This code is contributed by chandan_jnu
?>


Javascript




<script>
 
    // JavaScript program to print shortest
    // possible path to type all
    // characters of given string
    // using a remote
     
    // Function to print shortest
    // possible path to type all
    // characters of given string
    // using a remote
    function printPath(str)
    {
        let i = 0;
          
        // start from character 'A'
        // present at position (0, 0)
        let curX = 0, curY = 0;
        while (i < str.length)
        {
              
            // find coordinates of
            // next character
            let nextX = parseInt((str[i].charCodeAt() -
            'A'.charCodeAt()) / 5, 10);
            let nextY = (str[i].charCodeAt() -
            'B'.charCodeAt() + 1) % 5;
  
            // Move Up if destination
            // is above
            while (curX > nextX)
            {
                document.write("Move Up" + "</br>");
                curX--;
            }
  
            // Move Left if destination
            // is to the left
            while (curY > nextY)
            {
                document.write("Move Left" + "</br>");
                curY--;
            }
  
            // Move down if destination
            // is below
            while (curX < nextX)
            {
                document.write("Move Down" + "</br>");
                curX++;
            }
  
            // Move Right if destination
            // is to the right
            while (curY < nextY)
            {
                document.write("Move Right" + "</br>");
                curY++;
            }
  
            // At this point, destination
            // is reached
            document.write("Press OK" + "</br>");
            i++;
        }
    }
     
    let str = "COZY";
      printPath(str);
   
</script>


Output: 

Move Right
Move Right
Press OK
Move Down
Move Down
Move Right
Move Right
Press OK
Move Left
Move Left
Move Left
Move Left
Move Down
Move Down
Move Down
Press OK
Move Up
Move Right
Move Right
Move Right
Move Right
Press OK

Time Complexity: O(n*n), where n represents the size of the given string.
Auxiliary Space: O(1), no extra space is required, so it is a constant.
 

 



Last Updated : 15 Jun, 2022
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