最近我一直在iPhone上玩一款名为《Scramble》的游戏。有些人可能知道这个游戏叫拼字游戏。从本质上讲,当游戏开始时,你会得到一个字母矩阵:

F X I E
A M L O
E W B X
A S T U

The goal of the game is to find as many words as you can that can be formed by chaining letters together. You can start with any letter, and all the letters that surround it are fair game, and then once you move on to the next letter, all the letters that surround that letter are fair game, except for any previously used letters. So in the grid above, for example, I could come up with the words LOB, TUX, SEA, FAME, etc. Words must be at least 3 characters, and no more than NxN characters, which would be 16 in this game but can vary in some implementations. While this game is fun and addictive, I am apparently not very good at it and I wanted to cheat a little bit by making a program that would give me the best possible words (the longer the word the more points you get).

(来源:boggled.org)

不幸的是,我不太擅长算法或它们的效率等等。我的第一次尝试使用一个像这样的字典(约2.3MB),并进行线性搜索,试图匹配字典条目的组合。这需要花费很长时间来找到可能的单词,因为你每轮只有2分钟的时间,这是不够的。

我很有兴趣看看是否有任何Stackoverflowers可以提出更有效的解决方案。我主要是在寻找使用三大p的解决方案:Python、PHP和Perl,尽管任何使用Java或c++的东西也很酷,因为速度是至关重要的。

目前的解决方案:

Adam Rosenfield, Python, ~20岁 John Fouhy, Python, ~3秒 Kent Fredric, Perl, ~1s Darius Bacon, Python, ~1s rvarcher, VB。净,~ 1 s Paolo Bergantino, PHP(实时链接),~5s(本地~2s)


当前回答

我已经在c#中使用DFA算法解决了这个问题。你可以查看我的代码

https://github.com/attilabicsko/wordshuffler/

除了在矩阵中查找单词外,我的算法还保存单词的实际路径,所以在设计单词查找游戏时,你可以检查在实际路径上是否有单词。

其他回答

一个Node.JS JavaScript解决方案。在不到一秒钟的时间内计算所有100个独特的单词,其中包括阅读字典文件(MBA 2012)。

Output: ["FAM","TUX","TUB","FAE","ELI","ELM","ELB","TWA","TWA","SAW","AMI","SWA","SWA","AME","SEA","SEW","AES","AWL","AWE","SEA","AWA","MIX","MIL","AST","ASE","MAX","MAE","MAW","MEW","AWE","MES","AWL","LIE","LIM","AWA","AES","BUT","BLO","WAS","WAE","WEA","LEI","LEO","LOB","LOX","WEM","OIL","OLM","WEA","WAE","WAX","WAF","MILO","EAST","WAME","TWAS","TWAE","EMIL","WEAM","OIME","AXIL","WEST","TWAE","LIMB","WASE","WAST","BLEO","STUB","BOIL","BOLE","LIME","SAWT","LIMA","MESA","MEWL","AXLE","FAME","ASEM","MILE","AMIL","SEAX","SEAM","SEMI","SWAM","AMBO","AMLI","AXILE","AMBLE","SWAMI","AWEST","AWEST","LIMAX","LIMES","LIMBU","LIMBO","EMBOX","SEMBLE","EMBOLE","WAMBLE","FAMBLE"]

代码:

var fs = require('fs')

var Node = function(value, row, col) {
    this.value = value
    this.row = row
    this.col = col
}

var Path = function() {
    this.nodes = []
}

Path.prototype.push = function(node) {
    this.nodes.push(node)
    return this
}

Path.prototype.contains = function(node) {
    for (var i = 0, ii = this.nodes.length; i < ii; i++) {
        if (this.nodes[i] === node) {
            return true
        }
    }

    return false
}

Path.prototype.clone = function() {
    var path = new Path()
    path.nodes = this.nodes.slice(0)
    return path
}

Path.prototype.to_word = function() {
    var word = ''

    for (var i = 0, ii = this.nodes.length; i < ii; ++i) {
        word += this.nodes[i].value
    }

    return word
}

var Board = function(nodes, dict) {
    // Expects n x m array.
    this.nodes = nodes
    this.words = []
    this.row_count = nodes.length
    this.col_count = nodes[0].length
    this.dict = dict
}

Board.from_raw = function(board, dict) {
    var ROW_COUNT = board.length
      , COL_COUNT = board[0].length

    var nodes = []

    // Replace board with Nodes
    for (var i = 0, ii = ROW_COUNT; i < ii; ++i) {
        nodes.push([])
        for (var j = 0, jj = COL_COUNT; j < jj; ++j) {
            nodes[i].push(new Node(board[i][j], i, j))
        }
    }

    return new Board(nodes, dict)
}

Board.prototype.toString = function() {
    return JSON.stringify(this.nodes)
}

Board.prototype.update_potential_words = function(dict) {
    for (var i = 0, ii = this.row_count; i < ii; ++i) {
        for (var j = 0, jj = this.col_count; j < jj; ++j) {
            var node = this.nodes[i][j]
              , path = new Path()

            path.push(node)

            this.dfs_search(path)
        }
    }
}

Board.prototype.on_board = function(row, col) {
    return 0 <= row && row < this.row_count && 0 <= col && col < this.col_count
}

Board.prototype.get_unsearched_neighbours = function(path) {
    var last_node = path.nodes[path.nodes.length - 1]

    var offsets = [
        [-1, -1], [-1,  0], [-1, +1]
      , [ 0, -1],           [ 0, +1]
      , [+1, -1], [+1,  0], [+1, +1]
    ]

    var neighbours = []

    for (var i = 0, ii = offsets.length; i < ii; ++i) {
        var offset = offsets[i]
        if (this.on_board(last_node.row + offset[0], last_node.col + offset[1])) {

            var potential_node = this.nodes[last_node.row + offset[0]][last_node.col + offset[1]]
            if (!path.contains(potential_node)) {
                // Create a new path if on board and we haven't visited this node yet.
                neighbours.push(potential_node)
            }
        }
    }

    return neighbours
}

Board.prototype.dfs_search = function(path) {
    var path_word = path.to_word()

    if (this.dict.contains_exact(path_word) && path_word.length >= 3) {
        this.words.push(path_word)
    }

    var neighbours = this.get_unsearched_neighbours(path)

    for (var i = 0, ii = neighbours.length; i < ii; ++i) {
        var neighbour = neighbours[i]
        var new_path = path.clone()
        new_path.push(neighbour)

        if (this.dict.contains_prefix(new_path.to_word())) {
            this.dfs_search(new_path)
        }
    }
}

var Dict = function() {
    this.dict_array = []

    var dict_data = fs.readFileSync('./web2', 'utf8')
    var dict_array = dict_data.split('\n')

    for (var i = 0, ii = dict_array.length; i < ii; ++i) {
        dict_array[i] = dict_array[i].toUpperCase()
    }

    this.dict_array = dict_array.sort()
}

Dict.prototype.contains_prefix = function(prefix) {
    // Binary search
    return this.search_prefix(prefix, 0, this.dict_array.length)
}

Dict.prototype.contains_exact = function(exact) {
    // Binary search
    return this.search_exact(exact, 0, this.dict_array.length)
}

Dict.prototype.search_prefix = function(prefix, start, end) {
    if (start >= end) {
        // If no more place to search, return no matter what.
        return this.dict_array[start].indexOf(prefix) > -1
    }

    var middle = Math.floor((start + end)/2)

    if (this.dict_array[middle].indexOf(prefix) > -1) {
        // If we prefix exists, return true.
        return true
    } else {
        // Recurse
        if (prefix <= this.dict_array[middle]) {
            return this.search_prefix(prefix, start, middle - 1)
        } else {
            return this.search_prefix(prefix, middle + 1, end)
        }
    }
}

Dict.prototype.search_exact = function(exact, start, end) {
    if (start >= end) {
        // If no more place to search, return no matter what.
        return this.dict_array[start] === exact
    }

    var middle = Math.floor((start + end)/2)

    if (this.dict_array[middle] === exact) {
        // If we prefix exists, return true.
        return true
    } else {
        // Recurse
        if (exact <= this.dict_array[middle]) {
            return this.search_exact(exact, start, middle - 1)
        } else {
            return this.search_exact(exact, middle + 1, end)
        }
    }
}

var board = [
    ['F', 'X', 'I', 'E']
  , ['A', 'M', 'L', 'O']
  , ['E', 'W', 'B', 'X']
  , ['A', 'S', 'T', 'U']
]

var dict = new Dict()

var b = Board.from_raw(board, dict)
b.update_potential_words()
console.log(JSON.stringify(b.words.sort(function(a, b) {
    return a.length - b.length
})))

只是为了好玩,我在bash中实现了一个。 它不是超级快,但很合理。

http://dev.xkyle.com/bashboggle/

我的答案和这里的其他答案一样,但我把它贴出来是因为它看起来比其他Python解决方案快一些,因为设置字典更快。(我对比了John Fouhy的解决方案。)设置后,解决的时间在噪声中下降。

grid = "fxie amlo ewbx astu".split()
nrows, ncols = len(grid), len(grid[0])

# A dictionary word that could be a solution must use only the grid's
# letters and have length >= 3. (With a case-insensitive match.)
import re
alphabet = ''.join(set(''.join(grid)))
bogglable = re.compile('[' + alphabet + ']{3,}$', re.I).match

words = set(word.rstrip('\n') for word in open('words') if bogglable(word))
prefixes = set(word[:i] for word in words
               for i in range(2, len(word)+1))

def solve():
    for y, row in enumerate(grid):
        for x, letter in enumerate(row):
            for result in extending(letter, ((x, y),)):
                yield result

def extending(prefix, path):
    if prefix in words:
        yield (prefix, path)
    for (nx, ny) in neighbors(path[-1]):
        if (nx, ny) not in path:
            prefix1 = prefix + grid[ny][nx]
            if prefix1 in prefixes:
                for result in extending(prefix1, path + ((nx, ny),)):
                    yield result

def neighbors((x, y)):
    for nx in range(max(0, x-1), min(x+2, ncols)):
        for ny in range(max(0, y-1), min(y+2, nrows)):
            yield (nx, ny)

示例用法:

# Print a maximal-length word and its path:
print max(solve(), key=lambda (word, path): len(word))

编辑:过滤掉长度小于3个字母的单词。

编辑2:我很好奇为什么Kent Fredric的Perl解决方案更快;它使用正则表达式匹配,而不是一组字符。在Python中做同样的事情,速度大约会翻倍。

首先,阅读c#语言设计师如何解决一个相关问题: http://blogs.msdn.com/ericlippert/archive/2009/02/04/a-nasality-talisman-for-the-sultana-analyst.aspx。

像他一样,您可以从字典开始,并通过从字母排序的字母数组到可以根据这些字母拼写的单词列表创建字典来规范化单词。

接下来,开始从黑板上创建可能的单词并查找它们。我怀疑这将让你走得很远,但肯定有更多的技巧可以加快速度。

令人惊讶的是,没有人尝试使用PHP版本。

这是John Fouhy的Python解决方案的PHP版本。

虽然我从其他人的答案中得到了一些建议,但这主要是抄袭约翰的。

$boggle = "fxie
           amlo
           ewbx
           astu";

$alphabet = str_split(str_replace(array("\n", " ", "\r"), "", strtolower($boggle)));
$rows = array_map('trim', explode("\n", $boggle));
$dictionary = file("C:/dict.txt");
$prefixes = array(''=>'');
$words = array();
$regex = '/[' . implode('', $alphabet) . ']{3,}$/S';
foreach($dictionary as $k=>$value) {
    $value = trim(strtolower($value));
    $length = strlen($value);
    if(preg_match($regex, $value)) {
        for($x = 0; $x < $length; $x++) {
            $letter = substr($value, 0, $x+1);
            if($letter == $value) {
                $words[$value] = 1;
            } else {
                $prefixes[$letter] = 1;
            }
        }
    }
}

$graph = array();
$chardict = array();
$positions = array();
$c = count($rows);
for($i = 0; $i < $c; $i++) {
    $l = strlen($rows[$i]);
    for($j = 0; $j < $l; $j++) {
        $chardict[$i.','.$j] = $rows[$i][$j];
        $children = array();
        $pos = array(-1,0,1);
        foreach($pos as $z) {
            $xCoord = $z + $i;
            if($xCoord < 0 || $xCoord >= count($rows)) {
                continue;
            }
            $len = strlen($rows[0]);
            foreach($pos as $w) {
                $yCoord = $j + $w;
                if(($yCoord < 0 || $yCoord >= $len) || ($z == 0 && $w == 0)) {
                    continue;
                }
                $children[] = array($xCoord, $yCoord);
            }
        }
        $graph['None'][] = array($i, $j);
        $graph[$i.','.$j] = $children;
    }
}

function to_word($chardict, $prefix) {
    $word = array();
    foreach($prefix as $v) {
        $word[] = $chardict[$v[0].','.$v[1]];
    }
    return implode("", $word);
}

function find_words($graph, $chardict, $position, $prefix, $prefixes, &$results, $words) {
    $word = to_word($chardict, $prefix);
    if(!isset($prefixes[$word])) return false;

    if(isset($words[$word])) {
        $results[] = $word;
    }

    foreach($graph[$position] as $child) {
        if(!in_array($child, $prefix)) {
            $newprefix = $prefix;
            $newprefix[] = $child;
            find_words($graph, $chardict, $child[0].','.$child[1], $newprefix, $prefixes, $results, $words);
        }
    }
}

$solution = array();
find_words($graph, $chardict, 'None', array(), $prefixes, $solution);
print_r($solution);

如果你想尝试的话,这里有一个实时链接。虽然在我的本地机器上需要大约2秒,但在我的web服务器上需要大约5秒。无论哪种情况,它都不是很快。尽管如此,它还是很可怕,所以我可以想象时间可以大大缩短。任何关于如何实现这一目标的建议都将不胜感激。PHP缺少元组,这使得坐标处理起来很奇怪,而且我无法理解到底发生了什么,这对我一点帮助都没有。

编辑:一些修复使它在本地少于1秒。