
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 {238Please respect copyright.PENANAXNlElA6t8y
public int longestPalindrome(String[] words) {238Please respect copyright.PENANAUBcf4gRUlo
HashMap<String, Integer> count = new HashMap<String, Integer>();238Please respect copyright.PENANAb5wRE8VPtv
// Count the number of occurrences of each word using a hashmap238Please respect copyright.PENANAiovP8xerGH
for (String word : words) {238Please respect copyright.PENANA9fSUvMh1Kt
Integer countOfTheWord = count.get(word);238Please respect copyright.PENANA8kfdb6tp97
if (countOfTheWord == null) {238Please respect copyright.PENANAYZP52iI4Hs
count.put(word, 1);238Please respect copyright.PENANAIx3tKZhPCr
} else {238Please respect copyright.PENANAAlEPtW1DQV
count.put(word, countOfTheWord + 1);238Please respect copyright.PENANAQMtCq2f3wl
}238Please respect copyright.PENANAosuyDKj0LU
}238Please respect copyright.PENANAslpsFb0xIb
// 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 word238Please respect copyright.PENANAxAmaY8z3RL
int answer = 0;238Please respect copyright.PENANA8XcPn1CkO7
boolean central = false;238Please respect copyright.PENANAW3NAIq9PYN
for (Map.Entry<String, Integer> entry : count.entrySet()) {238Please respect copyright.PENANAEMSuqaSfh1
String word = entry.getKey();238Please respect copyright.PENANAYNwBKyT9nM
int countOfTheWord = entry.getValue();238Please respect copyright.PENANATiALh1l3OT
// if the word is a palindrome238Please respect copyright.PENANAZ3br9p0dPE
if (word.charAt(0) == word.charAt(1)) {238Please respect copyright.PENANAssneUaZuWk
if (countOfTheWord % 2 == 0) {238Please respect copyright.PENANAViXp14cxA5
answer += countOfTheWord;238Please respect copyright.PENANAnpi9De57Jm
} else {238Please respect copyright.PENANAXSa2phBNLk
answer += countOfTheWord - 1;238Please respect copyright.PENANAfjMCZQewCc
central = true;238Please respect copyright.PENANAZxgUr6MydB
}238Please respect copyright.PENANAfBwkKIRkam
// consider a pair of non-palindrome words such that one is the reverse of another238Please respect copyright.PENANA5yCOtwMfpI
} else if (word.charAt(0) < word.charAt(1)) {238Please respect copyright.PENANAhfK7ll6KI8
String reversedWord = "" + word.charAt(1) + word.charAt(0);238Please respect copyright.PENANAfZdxXzGbPH
if (count.containsKey(reversedWord)) {238Please respect copyright.PENANAk5vyCqgKtK
answer += 2 * Math.min(countOfTheWord, count.get(reversedWord));238Please respect copyright.PENANALhLcYywib9
}238Please respect copyright.PENANAXBiyRrbpoU
}238Please respect copyright.PENANA8AuphCjgIv
}238Please respect copyright.PENANAkAidtQiLKV
if (central) {238Please respect copyright.PENANAhR4KKkTjtg
answer++;238Please respect copyright.PENANAOG3bZVoGpi
}238Please respect copyright.PENANAvZeDyFjO7q
return 2 * answer;238Please respect copyright.PENANA9x02u410C7
}238Please respect copyright.PENANAuVCORjkwoA
}
2: A Two-Dimensional Array Approach
class Solution {238Please respect copyright.PENANA9QoYFvSl2c
public int longestPalindrome(String[] words) {238Please respect copyright.PENANAdFSybdzXUV
final int alphabetSize = 26;238Please respect copyright.PENANAJRNfY11HO5
int[][] count = new int[alphabetSize][alphabetSize];238Please respect copyright.PENANAiwkpeQ72W7
// Count the number of occurrences of each word using a two-dimensional array. 238Please respect copyright.PENANAt9wWauhyfW
for (String word : words) {238Please respect copyright.PENANA48qaiT1myH
count[word.charAt(0) - 'a'][word.charAt(1) - 'a']++;238Please respect copyright.PENANAdYixyj0Bcz
}238Please respect copyright.PENANAw3TzZ7v75X
// The answer will denote the number of words in the final string and the boolean variable central will denote whether we have a central word238Please respect copyright.PENANAgjie2SIVJt
int answer = 0;238Please respect copyright.PENANAAEgXmTbnbe
boolean central = false;238Please respect copyright.PENANAiMwESPobri
for (int i = 0; i < alphabetSize; i++) {238Please respect copyright.PENANAnlhx7qi04b
if (count[i][i] % 2 == 0) {238Please respect copyright.PENANAq1iCL7O5yu
answer += count[i][i];238Please respect copyright.PENANAvu1gfdqAgE
} else {238Please respect copyright.PENANA5GMnrTXu6y
answer += count[i][i] - 1;238Please respect copyright.PENANAEOKJkcbhGJ
central = true;238Please respect copyright.PENANAhSHcSu2T9M
}238Please respect copyright.PENANAiIpN0Gdjt0
for (int j = i + 1; j < alphabetSize; j++) {238Please respect copyright.PENANApUGYsyAShy
answer += 2 * Math.min(count[i][j], count[j][i]);238Please respect copyright.PENANAVL9aXyTill
}238Please respect copyright.PENANAnh0rNl24Sq
}238Please respect copyright.PENANA1NsFHfqdcJ
if (central) {238Please respect copyright.PENANABqZWrl0UkF
answer++;238Please respect copyright.PENANAlpaS1eFZAy
}238Please respect copyright.PENANAuhviaWdm8h
return 2 * answer;238Please respect copyright.PENANAmXj7v7LFDj
}238Please respect copyright.PENANAPfRQRPjqYa
}
238Please respect copyright.PENANA0RWOOK6loL