Print shortest path to print a string on screen Last Updated : 07 Mar, 2025 Comments Improve Suggest changes Like Article Like Report Try it on GfG Practice Given a 5x5 grid containing alphabets from A-Z and a string str. The task is to find the shortest path to type all characters of str in order. The starting position is at A (top-left corner).Rules for Movement:You can move left, right, up, or down while staying inside the grid.For each character in str, move horizontally first (Left/Right), then vertically (Up/Down) to reach the target letter.Once you reach a character, print "OK" before moving to the next one.Grid: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 ZExamples: Input: str = "GFG"Output: RIGHT DOWN OK LEFT OK RIGHT OKExplanation:Start at A -> Move RIGHT to B, C, D, E, then DOWN to G -> OKMove LEFT to F->OKMove RIGHT to G -> OKInput: str = "GEEK"Output: RIGHT DOWN OK RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT UP OK OK LEFT LEFT LEFT LEFT DOWN DOWN OKExplanation:Start at A -> Move RIGHT to B, C, D, E, then DOWN to G -> OKMove RIGHT to E -> OKStay at E -> OKMove LEFT to D, C, B, A, then DOWN DOWN to K -> OKApproach:The idea is to treat the 5x5 grid as a coordinate plane and move step by step to reach each character. We first map each character's position in the grid, then start from 'A' (0,0) and navigate to each character in the input string using simple LEFT, RIGHT, UP, and DOWN moves. Since 'Z' is placed at (5,0), we handle it separately. At each step, we move in the necessary direction before confirming the selection with "OK." Steps to implement the above idea:Map each character (A-Y, Z) to its 5x5 grid position.Start from 'A' (0,0) as the initial position.Iterate through the input string and find each character's target position.Move LEFT, RIGHT, UP, or DOWN step by step to reach the target.Append "OK" after reaching each character.Return the list of movements as the result.Below is implementation of the above approach: C++ // C++ Code to print shortest possible path to // type all characters of given string #include <bits/stdc++.h> using namespace std; // Function to find the shortest path to type // characters of str vector<string> printPath(string str) { vector<string> result; // Store positions of characters in the 5x5 grid unordered_map<char, pair<int, int>> pos; char ch = 'A'; // Fill positions for characters A to Y for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) { for (int j = 0; j < 5 && ch <= 'Y'; j++, ch++) { pos[ch] = {i, j}; } } // Position of 'Z' (last row, first column) pos['Z'] = {5, 0}; // Start from 'A' at (0,0) int x = 0, y = 0; // Traverse each character in str for (char c : str) { // Extract target position manually // (fix for C++14 compatibility) int targetX = pos[c].first; int targetY = pos[c].second; // Move right if target is on the right while (y < targetY) { result.push_back("RIGHT"); y++; } // Move left if target is on the left while (y > targetY) { result.push_back("LEFT"); y--; } // Move down if target is below while (x < targetX) { result.push_back("DOWN"); x++; } // Move up if target is above while (x > targetX) { result.push_back("UP"); x--; } // Add "OK" when the target // character is reached result.push_back("OK"); } return result; } void printArr(vector<string> &arr) { for (const string &step : arr) { cout << step << " "; } cout << endl; } int main() { string str = "GFG"; vector<string> path = printPath(str); printArr(path); return 0; } Java // Java Code to print shortest possible path to // type all characters of given string import java.util.*; class GfG { // Function to find the shortest path to type // characters of str static ArrayList<String> printPath(String str) { ArrayList<String> result = new ArrayList<>(); // Store positions of characters in the 5x5 grid HashMap<Character, int[]> pos = new HashMap<>(); char ch = 'A'; // Fill positions for characters A to Y for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) { for (int j = 0; j < 5 && ch <= 'Y'; j++, ch++) { pos.put(ch, new int[]{i, j}); } } // Position of 'Z' (last row, first column) pos.put('Z', new int[]{5, 0}); // Start from 'A' at (0,0) int x = 0, y = 0; // Traverse each character in str for (char c : str.toCharArray()) { // Extract target position manually // (fix for Java compatibility) int targetX = pos.get(c)[0]; int targetY = pos.get(c)[1]; // Move right if target is on the right while (y < targetY) { result.add("RIGHT"); y++; } // Move left if target is on the left while (y > targetY) { result.add("LEFT"); y--; } // Move down if target is below while (x < targetX) { result.add("DOWN"); x++; } // Move up if target is above while (x > targetX) { result.add("UP"); x--; } // Add "OK" when the target // character is reached result.add("OK"); } return result; } // Function to print list of strings static void printArr(ArrayList<String> arr) { for (String step : arr) { System.out.print(step + " "); } System.out.println(); } public static void main(String[] args) { // Hardcoded input String str = "GFG"; ArrayList<String> path = printPath(str); printArr(path); } } Python # Python Code to print shortest possible path to # type all characters of given string # Function to find the shortest path to type # characters of str def printPath(str): result = [] # Store positions of characters in the 5x5 grid pos = {} ch = 'A' # Fill positions for characters A to Y for i in range(5): for j in range(5): if ch > 'Y': break pos[ch] = (i, j) ch = chr(ord(ch) + 1) # Position of 'Z' (last row, first column) pos['Z'] = (5, 0) # Start from 'A' at (0,0) x, y = 0, 0 # Traverse each character in str for c in str: # Extract target position manually # (fix for Python compatibility) targetX, targetY = pos[c] # Move right if target is on the right while y < targetY: result.append("RIGHT") y += 1 # Move left if target is on the left while y > targetY: result.append("LEFT") y -= 1 # Move down if target is below while x < targetX: result.append("DOWN") x += 1 # Move up if target is above while x > targetX: result.append("UP") x -= 1 # Add "OK" when the target # character is reached result.append("OK") return result # Function to print list of strings def printArr(arr): print(" ".join(arr)) if __name__ == "__main__": # Hardcoded input str = "GFG" path = printPath(str) printArr(path) C# // C# Code to print shortest possible path to // type all characters of given string using System; using System.Collections.Generic; class GfG { // Function to find the shortest path to type // characters of str public static List<string> printPath(string str) { List<string> result = new List<string>(); // Store positions of characters in the 5x5 grid Dictionary<char, int[]> pos = new Dictionary<char, int[]>(); char ch = 'A'; // Fill positions for characters A to Y for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) { for (int j = 0; j < 5 && ch <= 'Y'; j++, ch++) { pos[ch] = new int[] {i, j}; } } // Position of 'Z' (last row, first column) pos['Z'] = new int[] {5, 0}; // Start from 'A' at (0,0) int x = 0, y = 0; // Traverse each character in str foreach (char c in str) { // Extract target position manually // (fix for C# compatibility) int targetX = pos[c][0]; int targetY = pos[c][1]; // Move right if target is on the right while (y < targetY) { result.Add("RIGHT"); y++; } // Move left if target is on the left while (y > targetY) { result.Add("LEFT"); y--; } // Move down if target is below while (x < targetX) { result.Add("DOWN"); x++; } // Move up if target is above while (x > targetX) { result.Add("UP"); x--; } // Add "OK" when the target // character is reached result.Add("OK"); } return result; } // Function to print list of strings public static void printArr(List<string> arr) { foreach (string step in arr) { Console.Write(step + " "); } Console.WriteLine(); } public static void Main(string[] args) { // Hardcoded input string str = "GFG"; List<string> path = printPath(str); printArr(path); } } JavaScript // JavaScript Code to print shortest possible path to // type all characters of given string // Function to find the shortest path to type // characters of str function printPath(str) { let result = []; // Store positions of characters in the 5x5 grid let pos = new Map(); let ch = 'A'; // Fill positions for characters A to Y for (let i = 0; i < 5; i++) { for (let j = 0; j < 5; j++) { if (ch > 'Y') break; pos.set(ch, [i, j]); ch = String.fromCharCode(ch.charCodeAt(0) + 1); } } // Position of 'Z' (last row, first column) pos.set('Z', [5, 0]); // Start from 'A' at (0,0) let x = 0, y = 0; // Traverse each character in str for (let c of str) { // Extract target position manually // (fix for JavaScript compatibility) let [targetX, targetY] = pos.get(c); // Move right if target is on the right while (y < targetY) { result.push("RIGHT"); y++; } // Move left if target is on the left while (y > targetY) { result.push("LEFT"); y--; } // Move down if target is below while (x < targetX) { result.push("DOWN"); x++; } // Move up if target is above while (x > targetX) { result.push("UP"); x--; } // Add "OK" when the target // character is reached result.push("OK"); } return result; } // Function to print list of strings function printArr(arr) { console.log(arr.join(" ")); } // Hardcoded input let str = "GFG"; let path = printPath(str); printArr(path); OutputRIGHT DOWN OK LEFT OK RIGHT OK Time Complexity: O(n), as each character's position is found in O(1), and movement is processed in O(1) per character.Space Complexity: O(n), as the result vector stores O(n) moves for an input string of length n. Comment More infoAdvertise with us Next Article Print shortest path to print a string on screen K kartik Improve Article Tags : Strings Matrix DSA Accolite Shortest Path +1 More Practice Tags : AccoliteMatrixShortest PathStrings Similar Reads String in Data Structure A string is a sequence of characters. The following facts make string an interesting data structure.Small set of elements. Unlike normal array, strings typically have smaller set of items. For example, lowercase English alphabet has only 26 characters. ASCII has only 256 characters.Strings are immut 3 min read Introduction to Strings - Data Structure and Algorithm Tutorials Strings are sequences of characters. The differences between a character array and a string are, a string is terminated with a special character ‘\0’ and strings are typically immutable in most of the programming languages like Java, Python and JavaScript. 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Find this minimum number of flips so the string consist of same characters only.Examples: Input : 00011110001110Output : 2We need to convert 1's sequenceso string consist of all 0's.Input 8 min read Generate all binary strings without consecutive 1'sGiven an integer n, the task is to generate all binary strings of size n without consecutive 1's.Examples: Input : n = 4Output : 0000 0001 0010 0100 0101 1000 1001 1010Input : n = 3Output : 000 001 010 100 101Approach:The idea is to generate all binary strings of length n without consecutive 1's usi 6 min read K'th bit in a binary representation with n iterationsGiven a decimal number m. Consider its binary representation string and apply n iterations. In each iteration, replace the character 0 with the string 01, and 1 with 10. Find the kth (1-based indexing) character in the string after the nth iterationExamples: Input: m = 5, n = 2, k = 5Output: 0Explan 15+ min read Substring and SubsequenceAll substrings of a given StringGiven a string s, containing lowercase alphabetical characters. The task is to print all non-empty substrings of the given string.Examples : Input : s = "abc"Output : "a", "ab", "abc", "b", "bc", "c"Input : s = "ab"Output : "a", "ab", "b"Input : s = "a"Output : "a"[Expected Approach] - Using Iterati 8 min read Print all subsequences of a stringGiven a string, we have to find out all its subsequences of it. A String is said to be a subsequence of another String, if it can be obtained by deleting 0 or more character without changing its order.Examples: Input : abOutput : "", "a", "b", "ab"Input : abcOutput : "", "a", "b", "c", "ab", "ac", " 12 min read Count Distinct SubsequencesGiven a string str of length n, your task is to find the count of distinct subsequences of it.Examples: Input: str = "gfg"Output: 7Explanation: The seven distinct subsequences are "", "g", "f", "gf", "fg", "gg" and "gfg" Input: str = "ggg"Output: 4Explanation: The four distinct subsequences are "", 13 min read Count distinct occurrences as a subsequenceGiven two strings pat and txt, where pat is always shorter than txt, count the distinct occurrences of pat as a subsequence in txt.Examples: Input: txt = abba, pat = abaOutput: 2Explanation: pat appears in txt as below two subsequences.[abba], [abba]Input: txt = banana, pat = banOutput: 3Explanation 15+ min read Longest Common Subsequence (LCS)Given two strings, s1 and s2, the task is to find the length of the Longest Common Subsequence. If there is no common subsequence, return 0. A subsequence is a string generated from the original string by deleting 0 or more characters, without changing the relative order of the remaining characters. 15+ min read Shortest Superstring ProblemGiven a set of n strings arr[], find the smallest string that contains each string in the given set as substring. We may assume that no string in arr[] is substring of another string.Examples: Input: arr[] = {"geeks", "quiz", "for"}Output: geeksquizforExplanation: "geeksquizfor" contains all the thr 15+ min read Printing Shortest Common SupersequenceGiven two strings s1 and s2, find the shortest string which has both s1 and s2 as its sub-sequences. If multiple shortest super-sequence exists, print any one of them.Examples:Input: s1 = "geek", s2 = "eke"Output: geekeExplanation: String "geeke" has both string "geek" and "eke" as subsequences.Inpu 9 min read Shortest Common SupersequenceGiven two strings s1 and s2, the task is to find the length of the shortest string that has both s1 and s2 as subsequences.Examples: Input: s1 = "geek", s2 = "eke"Output: 5Explanation: String "geeke" has both string "geek" and "eke" as subsequences.Input: s1 = "AGGTAB", s2 = "GXTXAYB"Output: 9Explan 15+ min read Longest Repeating SubsequenceGiven a string s, the task is to find the length of the longest repeating subsequence, such that the two subsequences don't have the same string character at the same position, i.e. any ith character in the two subsequences shouldn't have the same index in the original string. Examples:Input: s= "ab 15+ min read Longest Palindromic Subsequence (LPS)Given a string s, find the length of the Longest Palindromic Subsequence in it. Note: The Longest Palindromic Subsequence (LPS) is the maximum-length subsequence of a given string that is also a Palindrome. Longest Palindromic SubsequenceExamples:Input: s = "bbabcbcab"Output: 7Explanation: Subsequen 15+ min read Longest Palindromic SubstringGiven a string s, the task is to find the longest substring which is a palindrome. If there are multiple answers, then return the first appearing substring.Examples:Input: s = "forgeeksskeegfor" Output: "geeksskeeg"Explanation: There are several possible palindromic substrings like "kssk", "ss", "ee 12 min read PalindromeC Program to Check for Palindrome StringA string is said to be palindrome if the reverse of the string is the same as the string. In this article, we will learn how to check whether the given string is palindrome or not using C program.The simplest method to check for palindrome string is to reverse the given string and store it in a temp 4 min read Check if a given string is a rotation of a palindromeGiven a string, check if it is a rotation of a palindrome. For example your function should return true for "aab" as it is a rotation of "aba". Examples: Input: str = "aaaad" Output: 1 // "aaaad" is a rotation of a palindrome "aadaa" Input: str = "abcd" Output: 0 // "abcd" is not a rotation of any p 15+ min read Check if characters of a given string can be rearranged to form a palindromeGiven a string, Check if the characters of the given string can be rearranged to form a palindrome. For example characters of "geeksogeeks" can be rearranged to form a palindrome "geeksoskeeg", but characters of "geeksforgeeks" cannot be rearranged to form a palindrome. Recommended PracticeAnagram P 14 min read Online algorithm for checking palindrome in a streamGiven a stream of characters (characters are received one by one), write a function that prints 'Yes' if a character makes the complete string palindrome, else prints 'No'. Examples:Input: str[] = "abcba"Output: a Yes // "a" is palindrome b No // "ab" is not palindrome c No // "abc" is not palindrom 15+ min read Print all Palindromic Partitions of a String using Bit ManipulationGiven a string, find all possible palindromic partitions of a given string. Note that this problem is different from Palindrome Partitioning Problem, there the task was to find the partitioning with minimum cuts in input string. Here we need to print all possible partitions. Example: Input: nitinOut 10 min read Minimum Characters to Add at Front for PalindromeGiven a string s, the task is to find the minimum number of characters to be added to the front of s to make it palindrome. A palindrome string is a sequence of characters that reads the same forward and backward. Examples: Input: s = "abc"Output: 2Explanation: We can make above string palindrome as 12 min read Make largest palindrome by changing at most K-digitsYou are given a string s consisting of digits (0-9) and an integer k. Convert the string into a palindrome by changing at most k digits. If multiple palindromes are possible, return the lexicographically largest one. If it's impossible to form a palindrome with k changes, return "Not Possible".Examp 14 min read Minimum Deletions to Make a String PalindromeGiven a string s of length n, the task is to remove or delete the minimum number of characters from the string so that the resultant string is a palindrome. Note: The order of characters should be maintained. Examples : Input : s = "aebcbda"Output : 2Explanation: Remove characters 'e' and 'd'. Resul 15+ min read Minimum insertions to form a palindrome with permutations allowedGiven a string of lowercase letters. Find minimum characters to be inserted in the string so that it can become palindrome. We can change the positions of characters in the string.Examples: Input: geeksforgeeksOutput: 2Explanation: geeksforgeeks can be changed as: geeksroforskeeg or geeksorfroskeeg 5 min read Like