
Q: You are given an array of strings words. Each element of words consists of two lowercase English letters.
Create the longest possible palindrome by selecting some elements from words and concatenating them in any order. Each element can be selected at most once.
Return the length of the longest palindrome that you can create. If it is impossible to create any palindrome, return 0.
A palindrome is a string that reads the same forward and backward.
A: 1. A Hash Map Approach
class Solution {260Please respect copyright.PENANANI6N9IJDD6
public int longestPalindrome(String[] words) {260Please respect copyright.PENANA4vam7Vz7ul
HashMap<String, Integer> count = new HashMap<String, Integer>();260Please respect copyright.PENANAoitjtBG6VF
// Count the number of occurrences of each word using a hashmap260Please respect copyright.PENANAozXhL16Mjq
for (String word : words) {260Please respect copyright.PENANA5jf0nzTvhV
Integer countOfTheWord = count.get(word);260Please respect copyright.PENANAQ7TITDflZn
if (countOfTheWord == null) {260Please respect copyright.PENANAD0L5xtkVg9
count.put(word, 1);260Please respect copyright.PENANAZPRqf3QBrO
} else {260Please respect copyright.PENANAMc9QJ5bT6L
count.put(word, countOfTheWord + 1);260Please respect copyright.PENANAu6BmxaZTfT
}260Please respect copyright.PENANA4w82YJsFQt
}260Please respect copyright.PENANAwyexPEUlLV
// Initialize answer=0, central = false. The answer will denote the number of words in the final string and the boolean variable central will denote whether we have a central word260Please respect copyright.PENANAO4u0HjY1vc
int answer = 0;260Please respect copyright.PENANAdtdkUpP4cC
boolean central = false;260Please respect copyright.PENANAgpfH3abqBP
for (Map.Entry<String, Integer> entry : count.entrySet()) {260Please respect copyright.PENANA7EQJ2QdOau
String word = entry.getKey();260Please respect copyright.PENANAjOCKVQAPoS
int countOfTheWord = entry.getValue();260Please respect copyright.PENANAz8XeFJRiZ0
// if the word is a palindrome260Please respect copyright.PENANAN50XdVrRLB
if (word.charAt(0) == word.charAt(1)) {260Please respect copyright.PENANAIaH4tZle1E
if (countOfTheWord % 2 == 0) {260Please respect copyright.PENANAdhvPftFr5W
answer += countOfTheWord;260Please respect copyright.PENANAcHuHRPdXJh
} else {260Please respect copyright.PENANAVUqVxPtDQd
answer += countOfTheWord - 1;260Please respect copyright.PENANAJNmBd6R9F3
central = true;260Please respect copyright.PENANAtSX12w39ra
}260Please respect copyright.PENANASdIghji9rE
// consider a pair of non-palindrome words such that one is the reverse of another260Please respect copyright.PENANA3Lk0FDzqrd
} else if (word.charAt(0) < word.charAt(1)) {260Please respect copyright.PENANA3oqNSbh7sf
String reversedWord = "" + word.charAt(1) + word.charAt(0);260Please respect copyright.PENANAtWGS8g18dU
if (count.containsKey(reversedWord)) {260Please respect copyright.PENANAvTJPS4HqQI
answer += 2 * Math.min(countOfTheWord, count.get(reversedWord));260Please respect copyright.PENANA9um3tKpQPE
}260Please respect copyright.PENANAAEki5T0JR0
}260Please respect copyright.PENANAXkcsxE75QW
}260Please respect copyright.PENANAxHSZ0Apde7
if (central) {260Please respect copyright.PENANArYqyzhlZuw
answer++;260Please respect copyright.PENANAEQ2l1U5S36
}260Please respect copyright.PENANAAnDXXfZHMp
return 2 * answer;260Please respect copyright.PENANAGPSqCTrIST
}260Please respect copyright.PENANAuXBbmZF4UY
}
2: A Two-Dimensional Array Approach
class Solution {260Please respect copyright.PENANAHADJRzeWWI
public int longestPalindrome(String[] words) {260Please respect copyright.PENANAZagouqtNuI
final int alphabetSize = 26;260Please respect copyright.PENANAV6hrxgR4Yq
int[][] count = new int[alphabetSize][alphabetSize];260Please respect copyright.PENANAdliUVFl129
// Count the number of occurrences of each word using a two-dimensional array. 260Please respect copyright.PENANAhV9BRwUZrJ
for (String word : words) {260Please respect copyright.PENANAEbDZtHlyHZ
count[word.charAt(0) - 'a'][word.charAt(1) - 'a']++;260Please respect copyright.PENANAgeeidKtiad
}260Please respect copyright.PENANAohqT175hAS
// The answer will denote the number of words in the final string and the boolean variable central will denote whether we have a central word260Please respect copyright.PENANANP5tIEr1in
int answer = 0;260Please respect copyright.PENANAyzHan8WtzS
boolean central = false;260Please respect copyright.PENANAX4He7bpy1d
for (int i = 0; i < alphabetSize; i++) {260Please respect copyright.PENANAH6POxXyoJb
if (count[i][i] % 2 == 0) {260Please respect copyright.PENANAaWHrEQkUxL
answer += count[i][i];260Please respect copyright.PENANAJhDtuhsWD1
} else {260Please respect copyright.PENANAzId95wdMAg
answer += count[i][i] - 1;260Please respect copyright.PENANAtZJA9HHCJS
central = true;260Please respect copyright.PENANAj9G3OoVAb2
}260Please respect copyright.PENANAae3VzxokvA
for (int j = i + 1; j < alphabetSize; j++) {260Please respect copyright.PENANAKe7KFWhHSx
answer += 2 * Math.min(count[i][j], count[j][i]);260Please respect copyright.PENANAYnhgsJJAJS
}260Please respect copyright.PENANAmP6h8Xjy0h
}260Please respect copyright.PENANAFR0fxLaTVL
if (central) {260Please respect copyright.PENANAA2Cw5JZxpz
answer++;260Please respect copyright.PENANABatZg5aTIn
}260Please respect copyright.PENANA31DXxSopQB
return 2 * answer;260Please respect copyright.PENANAoruwUuaJE8
}260Please respect copyright.PENANAcYzerwG3UJ
}
260Please respect copyright.PENANAFiFvN3oDcJ