Prime factor in javascript, why is this case not working? - javascript

I'm writing a primality checker in in j/s and I was wondering why I'm getting true as a return for when I test 55... It seems to work fine for all the other cases I checked just not 55, can someone tell me where I went wrong?
var isPrime = function(num){
if (num === 2){
return true;
}
else if(num%2 === 0){
return false;
}
else{
var i = 2;
while(i<num){
if((num/i) % i === 0 ){
return false;
}
i++
}
return true;
}
};
Thanks in advance and apologies for the noobness!

if((num/i) % i === 0 ){
return false;
}
What is this case?
Shouldn't it be
if(num % i === 0 ){
return false;
}

Just as #Andrey pointed out, your if statement inside the while loop is not correct. For 55 at i=5 you should get false for 55 being prime, but 55/5 % 5 == 1 Also you could use just == instead of === for logical equals, since === checks if both values and type are equal, which is not necessary here.

Try this.
var isPrime = function isPrime(value) {
var i = 2;
for(i; i < value; i++) {
if(value % i === 0) {
return false;
}
}
return value > 1;
};

Even if your bug may be solved, I'd recommend to think about some other aspects to optimize your code:
Clarify your corner cases: In the beginning, check for n<2 -> return false. At least to math theory primes are defined as natural number larger then 1, so 1 is by definition not a prime like all the negative numbers. Your code won't handle negative numbers correctly.
You don't have to check all divisors up to n-1. You can obviously stop checking at n/2, but there are even proofs for tighter bounds which means you can stop checking already at √n if I'm right. To further optimize, you don't have to check even divisors >2.
else {
var i = 3;
while ( i < num/2 ) {
if( num % i == 0 ) {
return false;
}
i+=2;
}
return true;
}
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primality_test for details about testing of primes.
P.S: I just wrote the code here in the text box, but it looks like it might work.

Related

I write a function to find the prime number , but it's not working because I'm not able to break the loop

function isPrime(n) {
if (n == 1 ) {
return (`${n} is niether a prime number nor composite number`)
}
else if( n < 1){
return (`${n} is not a prime number`)
}
else{
for (let i = 2; i < n; i++) {
if( n % 2 == 0){
return result = `${n} is not a prime number`
break;
}
else{
return result = `${n} is a prime number`
}
}
}
}
console.log(isPrime(15))
I write a function to find the prime number , but it's not working because I'm not able to break the loop
Although answer by Dave addresses the question I would suggest this stack overflow answer as an better alternative.
https://stackoverflow.com/a/38643868/10738743
There are two glitches preventing your function working as intended.
the loop which tests for primeness is repeating n%2 on each iteration, which will evaluate the same, regardless of the value of i in the loop. Instead, you should be testing to see whether n%i is true.
With that fixed, the final return (which only happens if all non-prime conditions have been rejected with earlier returns) should be outside of any block as it becomes the default return value.
your code functions fine with the minor changes suggested above incorporated:
function isPrime(n) {
if (n == 1 ) {
return (`${n} is niether a prime number nor composite number`);
}
else if( n < 1){
return (`${n} is not a prime number`)
}
else {
for (let i = 2; i < n; i++) {
if( n % i == 0){
return result = `${n} is not a prime number`
// break; // (return breaks anyway)
} // end if
}// end for i;
} // end else
return result = `${n} is a prime number`; // default after no earlier rejection
}
console.log(isPrime(15));

Getting Boolean values if a number is a prime number in JavaScript

I am trying to solve this problem where I need to print true or false on the console depending on the number (true if a number is Prime and false if it is not). I seem to have the solution but I know there is a mistake somewhere because I get different answers if I change the boolean values of the 2 isPrime variables.
Here is the question:
Return true if num is prime, otherwise return false.
Hint: a prime number is only evenly divisible by itself and 1
Hint 2: you can solve this using a for loop.
Note: 0 and 1 are NOT considered prime numbers
Input Example:
1
7
11
15
20
Output Example:
false
true
true
false
false
My code:
function isPrime(num){
let isPrime = '';
for(let i = 2; i <= Math.sqrt(num); i++){
if(num % i === 0){
isPrime = false;
} else {
isPrime = true;
}
}
return isPrime;
}
isPrime(11);
You are very close. I will build on top of your solution. You need to return false as soon as you detect that the number is not prime. This avoids us making additional redundant calculations.
You also did not take into account the first hint.
Hint - Note: 0 and 1 are NOT considered prime numbers
For this you can simply return false if number is 0 or 1.
function isPrime(num) {
if (num === 0 || num === 1) return false;
for (let i = 2; i <= Math.sqrt(num); i++) {
if (num % i === 0) return false;
}
return true;
}
Also in your code you are using a variable isPrime to keep track of boolean values while initialising it with an empty string. This is not correct. Javascript allows this because it's weakly typed, but this is misleading. So in future if you define a variable for boolean value don't initialise it with a string ;)
To address your comment further. If you do want to stick with having a flag in your code, then you can initialise isPrime with true instead of an empty string.
That way you can get rid of the else part in the for loop, making the code shorter. I used code provided by #Commercial Suicide (by the way he did say that there are more elegant solutions) as an example:
function isPrime(num) {
let flag = true;
let isPrime = true;
if (num === 0 || num === 1) return false;
if (num === 2) return true;
for (let i = 2; i <= Math.sqrt(num); i++) {
if (flag) {
if(num % i === 0) {
isPrime = false;
flag = false;
}
}
}
return isPrime;
}
const numbers = [1, 7, 11, 15, 20];
const booleans = [false, true, true, false, false];
numbers.forEach((item, i) => {
if (isPrime(item) === booleans[i]) {
console.log("CORRECT");
} else {
console.log("WRONG");
}
})
You can then go a step further and remove the flag variable.
function isPrime(num) {
let isPrime = true;
if (num === 0 || num === 1) return false;
if (num === 2) return true;
for (let i = 2; i <= Math.sqrt(num); i++) {
if (isPrime) {
if(num % i === 0) {
isPrime = false;
} else {
isPrime = true;
}
}
}
return isPrime;
}
But now it should become even more clear that those flags are actually redundant, as I pointed out initially. Simply return false as soon as you detect that the number is not prime to avoid further unnecessary loop runs. From my experience in javascript over the years I can see that we are heading towards functional programming mindset. It helps to avoid variable mutations generally.
It's because your isPrime variable can be overriding many times, simple flag (for example) will prevent this issue. I have also added check for 0, 1 and 2. There are more elegant ways to do that, but I wanted to keep your logic, here is an example with some tests:
function isPrime(num) {
let flag = true;
let isPrime = '';
if (num === 0 || num === 1) return false;
if (num === 2) return true;
for (let i = 2; i <= Math.sqrt(num); i++) {
if (flag) {
if(num % i === 0) {
isPrime = false;
flag = false;
} else {
isPrime = true;
}
}
}
return isPrime;
}
const numbers = [1, 7, 11, 15, 20];
const booleans = [false, true, true, false, false];
numbers.forEach((item, i) => {
if (isPrime(item) === booleans[i]) {
console.log("CORRECT");
} else {
console.log("WRONG");
}
})

checking for palindromes in js [duplicate]

I have the following:
function checkPalindrom(palindrom)
{
for( var i = palindrom.length; i > 0; i-- )
{
if( palindrom[i] = palindrom.charAt(palindrom.length)-1 )
{
document.write('the word is palindrome.');
}else{
document.write('the word is not palindrome!');
}
}
}
checkPalindrom('wordthatwillbechecked');
What is wrong with my code? I want to check if the word is a palindrome.
Maybe I will suggest alternative solution:
function checkPalindrom (str) {
return str == str.split('').reverse().join('');
}
UPD. Keep in mind however that this is pretty much "cheating" approach, a demonstration of smart usage of language features, but not the most practical algorithm (time O(n), space O(n)). For real life application or coding interview you should definitely use loop solution. The one posted by Jason Sebring in this thread is both simple and efficient (time O(n), space O(1)).
25x faster than the standard answer
function isPalindrome(s,i) {
return (i=i||0)<0||i>=s.length>>1||s[i]==s[s.length-1-i]&&isPalindrome(s,++i);
}
use like:
isPalindrome('racecar');
as it defines "i" itself
Fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/namcx0yf/9/
This is ~25 times faster than the standard answer below.
function checkPalindrome(str) {
return str == str.split('').reverse().join('');
}
Fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/t0zfjfab/2/
View console for performance results.
Although the solution is difficult to read and maintain, I would recommend understanding it to demonstrate non-branching with recursion and bit shifting to impress your next interviewer.
explained
The || and && are used for control flow like "if" "else". If something left of || is true, it just exits with true. If something is false left of || it must continue. If something left of && is false, it exits as false, if something left of a && is true, it must continue. This is considered "non-branching" as it does not need if-else interupts, rather its just evaluated.
1. Used an initializer not requiring "i" to be defined as an argument. Assigns "i" to itself if defined, otherwise initialize to 0. Always is false so next OR condition is always evaluated.
(i = i || 0) < 0
2. Checks if "i" went half way but skips checking middle odd char. Bit shifted here is like division by 2 but to lowest even neighbor division by 2 result. If true then assumes palindrome since its already done. If false evaluates next OR condition.
i >= s.length >> 1
3. Compares from beginning char and end char according to "i" eventually to meet as neighbors or neighbor to middle char. If false exits and assumes NOT palindrome. If true continues on to next AND condition.
s[i] == s[s.length-1-i]
4. Calls itself again for recursion passing the original string as "s". Since "i" is defined for sure at this point, it is pre-incremented to continue checking the string's position. Returns boolean value indicating if palindrome.
isPalindrome(s,++i)
BUT...
A simple for loop is still about twice as fast as my fancy answer (aka KISS principle)
function fastestIsPalindrome(str) {
var len = Math.floor(str.length / 2);
for (var i = 0; i < len; i++)
if (str[i] !== str[str.length - i - 1])
return false;
return true;
}
http://jsfiddle.net/6L953awz/1/
The logic here is not quite correct, you need to check every letter to determine if the word is a palindrome. Currently, you print multiple times. What about doing something like:
function checkPalindrome(word) {
var l = word.length;
for (var i = 0; i < l / 2; i++) {
if (word.charAt(i) !== word.charAt(l - 1 - i)) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
if (checkPalindrome("1122332211")) {
document.write("The word is a palindrome");
} else {
document.write("The word is NOT a palindrome");
}
Which should print that it IS indeed a palindrome.
First problem
= is assign
== is compare
Second problem, Your logic here is wrong
palindrom.charAt(palindrom.length)-1
You are subtracting one from the charAt and not the length.
Third problem, it still will be wrong since you are not reducing the length by i.
It works to me
function palindrome(str) {
/* remove special characters, spaces and make lowercase*/
var removeChar = str.replace(/[^A-Z0-9]/ig, "").toLowerCase();
/* reverse removeChar for comparison*/
var checkPalindrome = removeChar.split('').reverse().join('');
/* Check to see if str is a Palindrome*/
return (removeChar === checkPalindrome);
}
As a much clearer recursive function: http://jsfiddle.net/dmz2x117/
function isPalindrome(letters) {
var characters = letters.split(''),
firstLetter = characters.shift(),
lastLetter = characters.pop();
if (firstLetter !== lastLetter) {
return false;
}
if (characters.length < 2) {
return true;
}
return isPalindrome(characters.join(''));
}
SHORTEST CODE (31 chars)(ES6):
p=s=>s==[...s].reverse().join``
p('racecar'); //true
Keep in mind short code isn't necessarily the best. Readability and efficiency can matter more.
At least three things:
You are trying to test for equality with =, which is used for setting. You need to test with == or ===. (Probably the latter, if you don't have a reason for the former.)
You are reporting results after checking each character. But you don't know the results until you've checked enough characters.
You double-check each character-pair, as you really only need to check if, say first === last and not also if last === first.
function checkPalindrom(palindrom)
{
var flag = true;
var j = 0;
for( var i = palindrom.length-1; i > palindrom.length / 2; i-- )
{
if( palindrom[i] != palindrom[j] )
{
flag = false;
break; // why this? It'll exit the loop at once when there is a mismatch.
}
j++;
}
if( flag ) {
document.write('the word is palindrome.');
}
else {
document.write('the word is not palindrome.');
}
}
checkPalindrom('wordthatwillbechecked');
Why am I printing the result outside the loop? Otherwise, for each match in the word, it'll print "is or is not pallindrome" rather than checking the whole word.
EDIT: Updated with changes and a fix suggested by Basemm.
I've added some more to the above functions, to check strings like, "Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog".
function checkPalindrom(str) {
var str = str.replace(/[^a-zA-Z0-9]+/gi, '').toLowerCase();
return str == str.split('').reverse().join('');
}
Thanks
The most important thing to do when solving a Technical Test is Don't use shortcut methods -- they want to see how you think algorithmically! Not your use of methods.
Here is one that I came up with (45 minutes after I blew the test). There are a couple optimizations to make though. When writing any algorithm, its best to assume false and alter the logic if its looking to be true.
isPalindrome():
Basically, to make this run in O(N) (linear) complexity you want to have 2 iterators whose vectors point towards each other. Meaning, one iterator that starts at the beginning and one that starts at the end, each traveling inward. You could have the iterators traverse the whole array and use a condition to break/return once they meet in the middle, but it may save some work to only give each iterator a half-length by default.
for loops seem to force the use of more checks, so I used while loops - which I'm less comfortable with.
Here's the code:
/**
* TODO: If func counts out, let it return 0
* * Assume !isPalindrome (invert logic)
*/
function isPalindrome(S){
var s = S
, len = s.length
, mid = len/2;
, i = 0, j = len-1;
while(i<mid){
var l = s.charAt(i);
while(j>=mid){
var r = s.charAt(j);
if(l === r){
console.log('#while *', i, l, '...', j, r);
--j;
break;
}
console.log('#while !', i, l, '...', j, r);
return 0;
}
++i;
}
return 1;
}
var nooe = solution('neveroddoreven'); // even char length
var kayak = solution('kayak'); // odd char length
var kayaks = solution('kayaks');
console.log('#isPalindrome', nooe, kayak, kayaks);
Notice that if the loops count out, it returns true. All the logic should be inverted so that it by default returns false. I also used one short cut method String.prototype.charAt(n), but I felt OK with this as every language natively supports this method.
function palindromCheck(str) {
var palinArr, i,
palindrom = [],
palinArr = str.split(/[\s!.?,;:'"-()]/ig);
for (i = 0; i < palinArr.length; i++) {
if (palinArr[i].toLowerCase() === palinArr[i].split('').reverse().join('').toLowerCase() &&
palinArr[i] !== '') {
palindrom.push(palinArr[i]);
}
}
return palindrom.join(', ');
}
console.log(palindromCheck('There is a man, his name! was Bob.')); //a, Bob
Finds and upper to lower case. Split string into array, I don't know why a few white spaces remain, but I wanted to catch and single letters.
= in palindrom[i] = palindrom.charAt(palindrom.length)-1 should be == or ===
palindrom.charAt(palindrom.length)-1 should be palindrom.charAt(palindrom.length - i)
Sharing my fast variant which also support spaces
function isPalindrom(str) {
var ia = 0;
var ib = str.length - 1;
do {
if (str[ia] === str[ib]) continue;
// if spaces skip & retry
if (str[ia] === ' ' && ib++) continue;
if (str[ib] === ' ' && ia--) continue;
return false;
} while (++ia < --ib);
return true;
}
var palindrom="never odd or even";
var res = isPalindrom(palindrom);
document.getElementById('check').innerHTML ='"'+ palindrom + '"'+" checked to be :" +res;
<span id="check" />
Some above short anwsers is good, but it's not easy for understand, I suggest one more way:
function checkPalindrome(inputString) {
if(inputString.length == 1){
return true;
}else{
var i = 0;
var j = inputString.length -1;
while(i < j){
if(inputString[i] != inputString[j]){
return false;
}
i++;
j--;
}
}
return true;
}
I compare each character, i start form left, j start from right, until their index is not valid (i<j).
It's also working in any languages
One more solution with ES6
isPalin = str => [...str].every((c, i) => c === str[str.length-1-i]);
You can try the following
function checkPalindrom (str) {
str = str.toLowerCase();
return str == str.split('').reverse().join('');
}
if(checkPalindrom('Racecar')) {
console.log('Palindrome');
} else {
console.log('Not Palindrome');
}
function checkPalindrom(palindrom)
{
palindrom= palindrom.toLowerCase();
var flag = true;
var j;
j = (palindrom.length) -1 ;
//console.log(j);
var cnt = j / 2;
//console.log(cnt);
for( i = 0; i < cnt+1 ; i++,j-- )
{
console.log("J is => "+j);
console.log(palindrom[i] + "<==>" + palindrom[j]);
if( palindrom[i] != palindrom[j] )
{
flag = false;
break;
}
}
if( flag ) {
console.log('the word is palindrome.');
}
else {
console.log('the word is not palindrome.');
}
}
checkPalindrom('Avid diva');
I'm wondering why nobody suggested this:
ES6:
// "aba" -> true
// "acb" -> false
// "aa" -> true
// "abba" -> true
// "s" -> true
isPalindrom = (str = "") => {
if (str[0] === str[str.length - 1]) {
return str.length <= 1 ? true : isPalindrom(str.slice(1, -1))
}
return false;
}
alert(["aba", "acb", "aa", "abba", "s"].map((e, i) => isPalindrom(e)).join())
ES5:
// "aba" -> true
// "acb" -> false
// "aa" -> true
// "abba" -> true
// "s" -> true
function isPalindrom(str) => {
var str = typeof str !== "string" ? "" : str;
if (str[0] === str[str.length - 1]) {
return str.length <= 1 ? true : isPalindrom(str.slice(1, -1))
}
return false;
}
alert(["aba", "acb", "aa", "abba", "s"].map(function (e, i) {
return isPalindrom(e);
}).join());
Recursive Method:
var low;
var high;
var A = "abcdcba";
function palindrome(A , low, high){
A = A.split('');
if((low > high) || (low == high)){
return true;
}
if(A[low] === A[high]){
A = A.join('');
low = low + 1;
high = high - 1;
return palindrome(A , low, high);
}
else{
return "not a palindrome";
}
}
palindrome(A, 0, A.length-1);
I thought I'd share my own solution:
function palindrome(string){
var reverseString = '';
for(var k in string){
reverseString += string[(string.length - k) - 1];
}
if(string === reverseString){
console.log('Hey there palindrome');
}else{
console.log('You are not a palindrome');
}
}
palindrome('ana');
Hope will help someone.
I found this on an interview site:
Write an efficient function that checks whether any permutation of an
input string is a palindrome. You can ignore punctuation, we only care
about the characters.
Playing around with it I came up with this ugly piece of code :)
function checkIfPalindrome(text) {
var found = {};
var foundOne = 0;
text = text.replace(/[^a-z0-9]/gi, '').toLowerCase();
for (var i = 0; i < text.length; i++) {
if (found[text[i]]) {
found[text[i]]++;
} else {
found[text[i]] = 1;
}
}
for (var x in found) {
if (found[x] === 1) {
foundOne++;
if (foundOne > 1) {
return false;
}
}
}
for (var x in found) {
if (found[x] > 2 && found[x] % 2 && foundOne) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
Just leaving it here for posterity.
How about this, using a simple flag
function checkPalindrom(str){
var flag = true;
for( var i = 0; i <= str.length-1; i++){
if( str[i] !== str[str.length - i-1]){
flag = false;
}
}
if(flag == false){
console.log('the word is not a palindrome!');
}
else{
console.log('the word is a palindrome!');
}
}
checkPalindrom('abcdcba');
(JavaScript) Using regexp, this checks for alphanumeric palindrome and disregards space and punctuation.
function palindrome(str) {
str = str.match(/[A-Za-z0-9]/gi).join("").toLowerCase();
// (/[A-Za-z0-9]/gi) above makes str alphanumeric
for(var i = 0; i < Math.floor(str.length/2); i++) { //only need to run for half the string length
if(str.charAt(i) !== str.charAt(str.length-i-1)) { // uses !== to compare characters one-by-one from the beginning and end
return "Try again.";
}
}
return "Palindrome!";
}
palindrome("A man, a plan, a canal. Panama.");
//palindrome("4_2 (: /-\ :) 2-4"); // This solution would also work on something like this.
`
function checkPalindrome (str) {
var str = str.toLowerCase();
var original = str.split(' ').join('');
var reversed = original.split(' ').reverse().join('');
return (original === reversed);
}
`
This avoids regex while also dealing with strings that have spaces and uppercase...
function isPalindrome(str) {
str = str.split("");
var str2 = str.filter(function(x){
if(x !== ' ' && x !== ',') {
return x;
}
});
return console.log(str2.join('').toLowerCase()) == console.log(str2.reverse().join('').toLowerCase());
};
isPalindrome("A car, a man, a maraca"); //true
function myPolidrome(polidrome){
var string=polidrome.split('').join(',');
for(var i=0;i<string.length;i++){
if(string.length==1){
console.log("is polidrome");
}else if(string[i]!=string.charAt(string.length-1)){
console.log("is not polidrome");
break;
}else{
return myPolidrome(polidrome.substring(1,polidrome.length-1));
}
}
}
myPolidrome("asasdsdsa");
Thought I will share my solution using Array.prototype.filter(). filter()
filters the array based on boolean values the function returns.
var inputArray=["","a","ab","aba","abab","ababa"]
var outputArray=inputArray.filter(function isPalindrome(x){
if (x.length<2) return true;
var y=x.split("").reverse().join("");
return x==y;
})
console.log(outputArray);
This worked for me.
var number = 8008
number = number + "";
numberreverse = number.split("").reverse().join('');
console.log ("The number if reversed is: " +numberreverse);
if (number == numberreverse)
console.log("Yes, this is a palindrome");
else
console.log("Nope! It isnt a palindrome");
Here is a solution that works even if the string contains non-alphanumeric characters.
function isPalindrome(str) {
str = str.toLowerCase().replace(/\W+|_/g, '');
return str == str.split('').reverse().join('');
}

How do I write an if/else statement inside a function that tells me if a number is evenly divisible by 2 (in javascript)

I'm working through codacademy and I can't understand the help discussions in the forum.
This is what I have so far but it returns false when i run the function with an even number:
var isEven = function(number) {
if (isEven % 2 == 0){
return true;
}else{
return false;
}
};
You are performing the mathematical operation on isEven (the function itself). You need to check number:
var isEven = function(number) {
if (number % 2 === 0) {
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
};
or better yet:
var isEven = function(number) {
return number % 2 === 0;
};
You could even do this, by making use of the truthy/falsy behavior of 1 and 0:
var isEven = function(number) {
return !(number % 2);
};
but I think the previous approach more clearly conveys how the logic works.
you can write this function as follows:
var isEven = function(number) {
return ((number % 2) == 0);
}
Your function is not working because you're checking against the function name, not the function parameter (number). Try this:
var isEven = function(number) {
return number % 2 == 0;
}
You doing it wrong in isEven itself..
Do it like..
var isEven = function(number) {
return number% 2 == 0;
}
Consider the following:
0 is considered to be false in Javascript.
1 is considered to be true in Javascript.
! makes false become true and vice versa.
The % operator can be used to keep higher numbers in a zero-to-one range.
Since 0 % 2 gives 0 (i.e. false) and 1 % 2 gives 1 (i.e. true), you simply need to invert the result with !:
function isEven(x) { return !(x % 2); }
console.log(isEven(0)); // true
console.log(isEven(1)); // false
console.log(isEven(2)); // true
console.log(isEven(3)); // false
Note that this could also be written as:
function isEven(x) { return (x % 2) == 0; }
...because:
0 % 2 is 0 (so it is true to say that it is equal to zero).
1 % 2 is 1 (so it is false to say that it is equal to zero).

Palindrome check in Javascript

I have the following:
function checkPalindrom(palindrom)
{
for( var i = palindrom.length; i > 0; i-- )
{
if( palindrom[i] = palindrom.charAt(palindrom.length)-1 )
{
document.write('the word is palindrome.');
}else{
document.write('the word is not palindrome!');
}
}
}
checkPalindrom('wordthatwillbechecked');
What is wrong with my code? I want to check if the word is a palindrome.
Maybe I will suggest alternative solution:
function checkPalindrom (str) {
return str == str.split('').reverse().join('');
}
UPD. Keep in mind however that this is pretty much "cheating" approach, a demonstration of smart usage of language features, but not the most practical algorithm (time O(n), space O(n)). For real life application or coding interview you should definitely use loop solution. The one posted by Jason Sebring in this thread is both simple and efficient (time O(n), space O(1)).
25x faster than the standard answer
function isPalindrome(s,i) {
return (i=i||0)<0||i>=s.length>>1||s[i]==s[s.length-1-i]&&isPalindrome(s,++i);
}
use like:
isPalindrome('racecar');
as it defines "i" itself
Fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/namcx0yf/9/
This is ~25 times faster than the standard answer below.
function checkPalindrome(str) {
return str == str.split('').reverse().join('');
}
Fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/t0zfjfab/2/
View console for performance results.
Although the solution is difficult to read and maintain, I would recommend understanding it to demonstrate non-branching with recursion and bit shifting to impress your next interviewer.
explained
The || and && are used for control flow like "if" "else". If something left of || is true, it just exits with true. If something is false left of || it must continue. If something left of && is false, it exits as false, if something left of a && is true, it must continue. This is considered "non-branching" as it does not need if-else interupts, rather its just evaluated.
1. Used an initializer not requiring "i" to be defined as an argument. Assigns "i" to itself if defined, otherwise initialize to 0. Always is false so next OR condition is always evaluated.
(i = i || 0) < 0
2. Checks if "i" went half way but skips checking middle odd char. Bit shifted here is like division by 2 but to lowest even neighbor division by 2 result. If true then assumes palindrome since its already done. If false evaluates next OR condition.
i >= s.length >> 1
3. Compares from beginning char and end char according to "i" eventually to meet as neighbors or neighbor to middle char. If false exits and assumes NOT palindrome. If true continues on to next AND condition.
s[i] == s[s.length-1-i]
4. Calls itself again for recursion passing the original string as "s". Since "i" is defined for sure at this point, it is pre-incremented to continue checking the string's position. Returns boolean value indicating if palindrome.
isPalindrome(s,++i)
BUT...
A simple for loop is still about twice as fast as my fancy answer (aka KISS principle)
function fastestIsPalindrome(str) {
var len = Math.floor(str.length / 2);
for (var i = 0; i < len; i++)
if (str[i] !== str[str.length - i - 1])
return false;
return true;
}
http://jsfiddle.net/6L953awz/1/
The logic here is not quite correct, you need to check every letter to determine if the word is a palindrome. Currently, you print multiple times. What about doing something like:
function checkPalindrome(word) {
var l = word.length;
for (var i = 0; i < l / 2; i++) {
if (word.charAt(i) !== word.charAt(l - 1 - i)) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
if (checkPalindrome("1122332211")) {
document.write("The word is a palindrome");
} else {
document.write("The word is NOT a palindrome");
}
Which should print that it IS indeed a palindrome.
First problem
= is assign
== is compare
Second problem, Your logic here is wrong
palindrom.charAt(palindrom.length)-1
You are subtracting one from the charAt and not the length.
Third problem, it still will be wrong since you are not reducing the length by i.
It works to me
function palindrome(str) {
/* remove special characters, spaces and make lowercase*/
var removeChar = str.replace(/[^A-Z0-9]/ig, "").toLowerCase();
/* reverse removeChar for comparison*/
var checkPalindrome = removeChar.split('').reverse().join('');
/* Check to see if str is a Palindrome*/
return (removeChar === checkPalindrome);
}
As a much clearer recursive function: http://jsfiddle.net/dmz2x117/
function isPalindrome(letters) {
var characters = letters.split(''),
firstLetter = characters.shift(),
lastLetter = characters.pop();
if (firstLetter !== lastLetter) {
return false;
}
if (characters.length < 2) {
return true;
}
return isPalindrome(characters.join(''));
}
SHORTEST CODE (31 chars)(ES6):
p=s=>s==[...s].reverse().join``
p('racecar'); //true
Keep in mind short code isn't necessarily the best. Readability and efficiency can matter more.
At least three things:
You are trying to test for equality with =, which is used for setting. You need to test with == or ===. (Probably the latter, if you don't have a reason for the former.)
You are reporting results after checking each character. But you don't know the results until you've checked enough characters.
You double-check each character-pair, as you really only need to check if, say first === last and not also if last === first.
function checkPalindrom(palindrom)
{
var flag = true;
var j = 0;
for( var i = palindrom.length-1; i > palindrom.length / 2; i-- )
{
if( palindrom[i] != palindrom[j] )
{
flag = false;
break; // why this? It'll exit the loop at once when there is a mismatch.
}
j++;
}
if( flag ) {
document.write('the word is palindrome.');
}
else {
document.write('the word is not palindrome.');
}
}
checkPalindrom('wordthatwillbechecked');
Why am I printing the result outside the loop? Otherwise, for each match in the word, it'll print "is or is not pallindrome" rather than checking the whole word.
EDIT: Updated with changes and a fix suggested by Basemm.
I've added some more to the above functions, to check strings like, "Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog".
function checkPalindrom(str) {
var str = str.replace(/[^a-zA-Z0-9]+/gi, '').toLowerCase();
return str == str.split('').reverse().join('');
}
Thanks
The most important thing to do when solving a Technical Test is Don't use shortcut methods -- they want to see how you think algorithmically! Not your use of methods.
Here is one that I came up with (45 minutes after I blew the test). There are a couple optimizations to make though. When writing any algorithm, its best to assume false and alter the logic if its looking to be true.
isPalindrome():
Basically, to make this run in O(N) (linear) complexity you want to have 2 iterators whose vectors point towards each other. Meaning, one iterator that starts at the beginning and one that starts at the end, each traveling inward. You could have the iterators traverse the whole array and use a condition to break/return once they meet in the middle, but it may save some work to only give each iterator a half-length by default.
for loops seem to force the use of more checks, so I used while loops - which I'm less comfortable with.
Here's the code:
/**
* TODO: If func counts out, let it return 0
* * Assume !isPalindrome (invert logic)
*/
function isPalindrome(S){
var s = S
, len = s.length
, mid = len/2;
, i = 0, j = len-1;
while(i<mid){
var l = s.charAt(i);
while(j>=mid){
var r = s.charAt(j);
if(l === r){
console.log('#while *', i, l, '...', j, r);
--j;
break;
}
console.log('#while !', i, l, '...', j, r);
return 0;
}
++i;
}
return 1;
}
var nooe = solution('neveroddoreven'); // even char length
var kayak = solution('kayak'); // odd char length
var kayaks = solution('kayaks');
console.log('#isPalindrome', nooe, kayak, kayaks);
Notice that if the loops count out, it returns true. All the logic should be inverted so that it by default returns false. I also used one short cut method String.prototype.charAt(n), but I felt OK with this as every language natively supports this method.
function palindromCheck(str) {
var palinArr, i,
palindrom = [],
palinArr = str.split(/[\s!.?,;:'"-()]/ig);
for (i = 0; i < palinArr.length; i++) {
if (palinArr[i].toLowerCase() === palinArr[i].split('').reverse().join('').toLowerCase() &&
palinArr[i] !== '') {
palindrom.push(palinArr[i]);
}
}
return palindrom.join(', ');
}
console.log(palindromCheck('There is a man, his name! was Bob.')); //a, Bob
Finds and upper to lower case. Split string into array, I don't know why a few white spaces remain, but I wanted to catch and single letters.
= in palindrom[i] = palindrom.charAt(palindrom.length)-1 should be == or ===
palindrom.charAt(palindrom.length)-1 should be palindrom.charAt(palindrom.length - i)
Sharing my fast variant which also support spaces
function isPalindrom(str) {
var ia = 0;
var ib = str.length - 1;
do {
if (str[ia] === str[ib]) continue;
// if spaces skip & retry
if (str[ia] === ' ' && ib++) continue;
if (str[ib] === ' ' && ia--) continue;
return false;
} while (++ia < --ib);
return true;
}
var palindrom="never odd or even";
var res = isPalindrom(palindrom);
document.getElementById('check').innerHTML ='"'+ palindrom + '"'+" checked to be :" +res;
<span id="check" />
Some above short anwsers is good, but it's not easy for understand, I suggest one more way:
function checkPalindrome(inputString) {
if(inputString.length == 1){
return true;
}else{
var i = 0;
var j = inputString.length -1;
while(i < j){
if(inputString[i] != inputString[j]){
return false;
}
i++;
j--;
}
}
return true;
}
I compare each character, i start form left, j start from right, until their index is not valid (i<j).
It's also working in any languages
One more solution with ES6
isPalin = str => [...str].every((c, i) => c === str[str.length-1-i]);
You can try the following
function checkPalindrom (str) {
str = str.toLowerCase();
return str == str.split('').reverse().join('');
}
if(checkPalindrom('Racecar')) {
console.log('Palindrome');
} else {
console.log('Not Palindrome');
}
function checkPalindrom(palindrom)
{
palindrom= palindrom.toLowerCase();
var flag = true;
var j;
j = (palindrom.length) -1 ;
//console.log(j);
var cnt = j / 2;
//console.log(cnt);
for( i = 0; i < cnt+1 ; i++,j-- )
{
console.log("J is => "+j);
console.log(palindrom[i] + "<==>" + palindrom[j]);
if( palindrom[i] != palindrom[j] )
{
flag = false;
break;
}
}
if( flag ) {
console.log('the word is palindrome.');
}
else {
console.log('the word is not palindrome.');
}
}
checkPalindrom('Avid diva');
I'm wondering why nobody suggested this:
ES6:
// "aba" -> true
// "acb" -> false
// "aa" -> true
// "abba" -> true
// "s" -> true
isPalindrom = (str = "") => {
if (str[0] === str[str.length - 1]) {
return str.length <= 1 ? true : isPalindrom(str.slice(1, -1))
}
return false;
}
alert(["aba", "acb", "aa", "abba", "s"].map((e, i) => isPalindrom(e)).join())
ES5:
// "aba" -> true
// "acb" -> false
// "aa" -> true
// "abba" -> true
// "s" -> true
function isPalindrom(str) => {
var str = typeof str !== "string" ? "" : str;
if (str[0] === str[str.length - 1]) {
return str.length <= 1 ? true : isPalindrom(str.slice(1, -1))
}
return false;
}
alert(["aba", "acb", "aa", "abba", "s"].map(function (e, i) {
return isPalindrom(e);
}).join());
Recursive Method:
var low;
var high;
var A = "abcdcba";
function palindrome(A , low, high){
A = A.split('');
if((low > high) || (low == high)){
return true;
}
if(A[low] === A[high]){
A = A.join('');
low = low + 1;
high = high - 1;
return palindrome(A , low, high);
}
else{
return "not a palindrome";
}
}
palindrome(A, 0, A.length-1);
I thought I'd share my own solution:
function palindrome(string){
var reverseString = '';
for(var k in string){
reverseString += string[(string.length - k) - 1];
}
if(string === reverseString){
console.log('Hey there palindrome');
}else{
console.log('You are not a palindrome');
}
}
palindrome('ana');
Hope will help someone.
I found this on an interview site:
Write an efficient function that checks whether any permutation of an
input string is a palindrome. You can ignore punctuation, we only care
about the characters.
Playing around with it I came up with this ugly piece of code :)
function checkIfPalindrome(text) {
var found = {};
var foundOne = 0;
text = text.replace(/[^a-z0-9]/gi, '').toLowerCase();
for (var i = 0; i < text.length; i++) {
if (found[text[i]]) {
found[text[i]]++;
} else {
found[text[i]] = 1;
}
}
for (var x in found) {
if (found[x] === 1) {
foundOne++;
if (foundOne > 1) {
return false;
}
}
}
for (var x in found) {
if (found[x] > 2 && found[x] % 2 && foundOne) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
Just leaving it here for posterity.
How about this, using a simple flag
function checkPalindrom(str){
var flag = true;
for( var i = 0; i <= str.length-1; i++){
if( str[i] !== str[str.length - i-1]){
flag = false;
}
}
if(flag == false){
console.log('the word is not a palindrome!');
}
else{
console.log('the word is a palindrome!');
}
}
checkPalindrom('abcdcba');
(JavaScript) Using regexp, this checks for alphanumeric palindrome and disregards space and punctuation.
function palindrome(str) {
str = str.match(/[A-Za-z0-9]/gi).join("").toLowerCase();
// (/[A-Za-z0-9]/gi) above makes str alphanumeric
for(var i = 0; i < Math.floor(str.length/2); i++) { //only need to run for half the string length
if(str.charAt(i) !== str.charAt(str.length-i-1)) { // uses !== to compare characters one-by-one from the beginning and end
return "Try again.";
}
}
return "Palindrome!";
}
palindrome("A man, a plan, a canal. Panama.");
//palindrome("4_2 (: /-\ :) 2-4"); // This solution would also work on something like this.
`
function checkPalindrome (str) {
var str = str.toLowerCase();
var original = str.split(' ').join('');
var reversed = original.split(' ').reverse().join('');
return (original === reversed);
}
`
This avoids regex while also dealing with strings that have spaces and uppercase...
function isPalindrome(str) {
str = str.split("");
var str2 = str.filter(function(x){
if(x !== ' ' && x !== ',') {
return x;
}
});
return console.log(str2.join('').toLowerCase()) == console.log(str2.reverse().join('').toLowerCase());
};
isPalindrome("A car, a man, a maraca"); //true
function myPolidrome(polidrome){
var string=polidrome.split('').join(',');
for(var i=0;i<string.length;i++){
if(string.length==1){
console.log("is polidrome");
}else if(string[i]!=string.charAt(string.length-1)){
console.log("is not polidrome");
break;
}else{
return myPolidrome(polidrome.substring(1,polidrome.length-1));
}
}
}
myPolidrome("asasdsdsa");
Thought I will share my solution using Array.prototype.filter(). filter()
filters the array based on boolean values the function returns.
var inputArray=["","a","ab","aba","abab","ababa"]
var outputArray=inputArray.filter(function isPalindrome(x){
if (x.length<2) return true;
var y=x.split("").reverse().join("");
return x==y;
})
console.log(outputArray);
This worked for me.
var number = 8008
number = number + "";
numberreverse = number.split("").reverse().join('');
console.log ("The number if reversed is: " +numberreverse);
if (number == numberreverse)
console.log("Yes, this is a palindrome");
else
console.log("Nope! It isnt a palindrome");
Here is a solution that works even if the string contains non-alphanumeric characters.
function isPalindrome(str) {
str = str.toLowerCase().replace(/\W+|_/g, '');
return str == str.split('').reverse().join('');
}

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