
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 {188Please respect copyright.PENANAVOJTaoMDK8
public int longestPalindrome(String[] words) {188Please respect copyright.PENANA5FqUa3VQot
HashMap<String, Integer> count = new HashMap<String, Integer>();188Please respect copyright.PENANA9F3dUmEzS3
// Count the number of occurrences of each word using a hashmap188Please respect copyright.PENANAf14MtN01aA
for (String word : words) {188Please respect copyright.PENANAWPnJke7f8n
Integer countOfTheWord = count.get(word);188Please respect copyright.PENANAiFzYutJYMv
if (countOfTheWord == null) {188Please respect copyright.PENANAku8z6eR6gV
count.put(word, 1);188Please respect copyright.PENANATkX29gtsWk
} else {188Please respect copyright.PENANAph4JThYtSS
count.put(word, countOfTheWord + 1);188Please respect copyright.PENANAlOzrw3XEEp
}188Please respect copyright.PENANAWLdei8qR8y
}188Please respect copyright.PENANAHDyO3q58so
// 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 word188Please respect copyright.PENANA89lvdKvnDZ
int answer = 0;188Please respect copyright.PENANAq0c5czIjI4
boolean central = false;188Please respect copyright.PENANAQYLZJdCMgN
for (Map.Entry<String, Integer> entry : count.entrySet()) {188Please respect copyright.PENANAqceJE3HE7c
String word = entry.getKey();188Please respect copyright.PENANAdf7h0ostxT
int countOfTheWord = entry.getValue();188Please respect copyright.PENANAkCAwQKvZRa
// if the word is a palindrome188Please respect copyright.PENANAVCWTvq2P82
if (word.charAt(0) == word.charAt(1)) {188Please respect copyright.PENANAkhZXAhHdkU
if (countOfTheWord % 2 == 0) {188Please respect copyright.PENANAPHNPs7ofad
answer += countOfTheWord;188Please respect copyright.PENANAxcq5zCiOPD
} else {188Please respect copyright.PENANAVYFo12BsiE
answer += countOfTheWord - 1;188Please respect copyright.PENANAuxGJHibxx0
central = true;188Please respect copyright.PENANAp2YF0bW74i
}188Please respect copyright.PENANARdU0MrQC8G
// consider a pair of non-palindrome words such that one is the reverse of another188Please respect copyright.PENANAoyxaOscWz8
} else if (word.charAt(0) < word.charAt(1)) {188Please respect copyright.PENANAH7yRhwkkX7
String reversedWord = "" + word.charAt(1) + word.charAt(0);188Please respect copyright.PENANAU2YsbH4Sny
if (count.containsKey(reversedWord)) {188Please respect copyright.PENANAIyixtbt2xL
answer += 2 * Math.min(countOfTheWord, count.get(reversedWord));188Please respect copyright.PENANA1L5GBqdFd0
}188Please respect copyright.PENANA3vlK2watbN
}188Please respect copyright.PENANA82Yz0C4i8k
}188Please respect copyright.PENANAAVUcEQ2Xm1
if (central) {188Please respect copyright.PENANAmK27AFjyfC
answer++;188Please respect copyright.PENANAVwnzODX20V
}188Please respect copyright.PENANA0KH7zNFbCz
return 2 * answer;188Please respect copyright.PENANAMkNFnz6Nn2
}188Please respect copyright.PENANA29PNhuhmjI
}
2: A Two-Dimensional Array Approach
class Solution {188Please respect copyright.PENANA12ndLdDB7j
public int longestPalindrome(String[] words) {188Please respect copyright.PENANA0adrPFdfMS
final int alphabetSize = 26;188Please respect copyright.PENANAqnc4w7OwuU
int[][] count = new int[alphabetSize][alphabetSize];188Please respect copyright.PENANAULoiKRJANh
// Count the number of occurrences of each word using a two-dimensional array. 188Please respect copyright.PENANAMDmINDWFp9
for (String word : words) {188Please respect copyright.PENANAo32uofpbBr
count[word.charAt(0) - 'a'][word.charAt(1) - 'a']++;188Please respect copyright.PENANAm5T5QGZ9B2
}188Please respect copyright.PENANAkEiWCvfrp2
// The answer will denote the number of words in the final string and the boolean variable central will denote whether we have a central word188Please respect copyright.PENANAedtvYAwC7r
int answer = 0;188Please respect copyright.PENANAZ2noNsBO6b
boolean central = false;188Please respect copyright.PENANAZf0KosnJf2
for (int i = 0; i < alphabetSize; i++) {188Please respect copyright.PENANAufsRLeSxEo
if (count[i][i] % 2 == 0) {188Please respect copyright.PENANACFuV1kbvso
answer += count[i][i];188Please respect copyright.PENANA48UUE9cWPL
} else {188Please respect copyright.PENANANvVMT8ligl
answer += count[i][i] - 1;188Please respect copyright.PENANAd1JRNk16l6
central = true;188Please respect copyright.PENANA7A8CvYFKls
}188Please respect copyright.PENANAH7uLgPJqKj
for (int j = i + 1; j < alphabetSize; j++) {188Please respect copyright.PENANAdncF2U1hmb
answer += 2 * Math.min(count[i][j], count[j][i]);188Please respect copyright.PENANAIT08tdNRQv
}188Please respect copyright.PENANA3xwHKqbufS
}188Please respect copyright.PENANAHSH9Gw67w1
if (central) {188Please respect copyright.PENANAPD3VbtTsFK
answer++;188Please respect copyright.PENANAytcE1NPWjT
}188Please respect copyright.PENANAq7D0wXduwF
return 2 * answer;188Please respect copyright.PENANAVZq384ar9i
}188Please respect copyright.PENANAhMz6zM4E9V
}
188Please respect copyright.PENANA54Xvzt22gR