
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 {244Please respect copyright.PENANAx9HSk56w82
public int longestPalindrome(String[] words) {244Please respect copyright.PENANAvu6mcUOCbt
HashMap<String, Integer> count = new HashMap<String, Integer>();244Please respect copyright.PENANAaUD3kOanqK
// Count the number of occurrences of each word using a hashmap244Please respect copyright.PENANAfN7MWEIds4
for (String word : words) {244Please respect copyright.PENANAOacCKv0fWN
Integer countOfTheWord = count.get(word);244Please respect copyright.PENANAScic2IECmb
if (countOfTheWord == null) {244Please respect copyright.PENANAg8NoJ0JEio
count.put(word, 1);244Please respect copyright.PENANA5r8yY6Elej
} else {244Please respect copyright.PENANAmnr350tAEu
count.put(word, countOfTheWord + 1);244Please respect copyright.PENANAZzq5xOW25Z
}244Please respect copyright.PENANAC5jOWiUgcH
}244Please respect copyright.PENANAWlI6esevxo
// 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 word244Please respect copyright.PENANAj2iUQsaui4
int answer = 0;244Please respect copyright.PENANAQwk0dO9ZMm
boolean central = false;244Please respect copyright.PENANAzCipQv2Yf6
for (Map.Entry<String, Integer> entry : count.entrySet()) {244Please respect copyright.PENANAWnAOzP4Qux
String word = entry.getKey();244Please respect copyright.PENANAQvSlKVI4wb
int countOfTheWord = entry.getValue();244Please respect copyright.PENANAZ4bMOEhhWs
// if the word is a palindrome244Please respect copyright.PENANA6Xs48eZSez
if (word.charAt(0) == word.charAt(1)) {244Please respect copyright.PENANAQNLU9u8tV2
if (countOfTheWord % 2 == 0) {244Please respect copyright.PENANAveIC317QIF
answer += countOfTheWord;244Please respect copyright.PENANA72LMkqklTH
} else {244Please respect copyright.PENANAlDaiibPnlh
answer += countOfTheWord - 1;244Please respect copyright.PENANAHazL61mZXr
central = true;244Please respect copyright.PENANAdV9QGsXe4l
}244Please respect copyright.PENANATMErQtHuRg
// consider a pair of non-palindrome words such that one is the reverse of another244Please respect copyright.PENANAXY1SAwkhn8
} else if (word.charAt(0) < word.charAt(1)) {244Please respect copyright.PENANAiNkUkBoZcv
String reversedWord = "" + word.charAt(1) + word.charAt(0);244Please respect copyright.PENANAXVlWWZaPjc
if (count.containsKey(reversedWord)) {244Please respect copyright.PENANA8JuVn89oqB
answer += 2 * Math.min(countOfTheWord, count.get(reversedWord));244Please respect copyright.PENANAYjKEDiq5DS
}244Please respect copyright.PENANA8w8xSy0Bl1
}244Please respect copyright.PENANAsd8xjSTMGQ
}244Please respect copyright.PENANAg5F5eIMT3w
if (central) {244Please respect copyright.PENANA7kpd56CC29
answer++;244Please respect copyright.PENANA2uQo4K50BH
}244Please respect copyright.PENANAHLqdTsjUcM
return 2 * answer;244Please respect copyright.PENANASZaAEpJvG3
}244Please respect copyright.PENANAeQOzNIK1yq
}
2: A Two-Dimensional Array Approach
class Solution {244Please respect copyright.PENANApycWRPowXX
public int longestPalindrome(String[] words) {244Please respect copyright.PENANAU9CV7as3kw
final int alphabetSize = 26;244Please respect copyright.PENANA9qANwckFIX
int[][] count = new int[alphabetSize][alphabetSize];244Please respect copyright.PENANAiyW1Kpe0b9
// Count the number of occurrences of each word using a two-dimensional array. 244Please respect copyright.PENANArolnumxOxT
for (String word : words) {244Please respect copyright.PENANAWochSwfoSP
count[word.charAt(0) - 'a'][word.charAt(1) - 'a']++;244Please respect copyright.PENANAT2hiX2Pr5w
}244Please respect copyright.PENANAJIUikfmHVD
// The answer will denote the number of words in the final string and the boolean variable central will denote whether we have a central word244Please respect copyright.PENANAtEiA6vU1kp
int answer = 0;244Please respect copyright.PENANAgjgIBNgY4k
boolean central = false;244Please respect copyright.PENANAGolwfIagEp
for (int i = 0; i < alphabetSize; i++) {244Please respect copyright.PENANA6YzsDrRkeQ
if (count[i][i] % 2 == 0) {244Please respect copyright.PENANAZi8cVPNl48
answer += count[i][i];244Please respect copyright.PENANANkP4elDKxo
} else {244Please respect copyright.PENANAK6EkTjRSC7
answer += count[i][i] - 1;244Please respect copyright.PENANAZ6FX25MSwE
central = true;244Please respect copyright.PENANAwckNQhPmmf
}244Please respect copyright.PENANAfYdrEepXjB
for (int j = i + 1; j < alphabetSize; j++) {244Please respect copyright.PENANA3toe8V9ngd
answer += 2 * Math.min(count[i][j], count[j][i]);244Please respect copyright.PENANA8hJapcKflU
}244Please respect copyright.PENANAQY52DhvAES
}244Please respect copyright.PENANAjv1Yfi8as3
if (central) {244Please respect copyright.PENANAla2IpDvkBA
answer++;244Please respect copyright.PENANAFxSkdLLL4i
}244Please respect copyright.PENANAgmDzBQVoP6
return 2 * answer;244Please respect copyright.PENANAuEqoJRjEHD
}244Please respect copyright.PENANAEP3BJSHskc
}
244Please respect copyright.PENANAFAu6NlRwvC