finding common prefix of array of strings

Question

I have an array like this:

$sports = array(
\'Softball - Counties\',
\'Softball - Eastern\',
\'Softball - North Harbour\',
\'Softball - South\',
\'Softball -         


        

Answer 1

@bumperbox

1. Your basic code needed some correction to work in ALL scenarios!

   • Your loop only compares until one character before the last character!
   • The mismatch can possibly occur 1 loop cycle after the latest common character.
   • Hence you have to at least check until 1 character after your first string's last character.
   • Hence your comparison operator must be "<= 1" or "< 2".

2. Currently your algorithm fails

   • if the first string is completely included in all other strings,
   • or completely included in all other strings except the last character.

In my next answer/post, I will attach iteration optimized code!

Original Bumperbox code PLUS correction (PHP):

function shortest($sports) {
 $i = 1;

 // loop to the length of the first string
 while ($i < strlen($sports[0])) {

  // grab the left most part up to i in length
  // REMARK: Culturally biased towards LTR writing systems. Better say: Grab frombeginning...
  $match = substr($sports[0], 0, $i);

  // loop through all the values in array, and compare if they match
  foreach ($sports as $sport) {
   if ($match != substr($sport, 0, $i)) {
    // didn't match, return the part that did match
    return substr($sport, 0, $i-1);
   }
  }
 $i++; // increase string length
 }
}

function shortestCorrect($sports) {
 $i = 1;
 while ($i <= strlen($sports[0]) + 1) {
  // Grab the string from its beginning with length $i
  $match = substr($sports[0], 0, $i);
  foreach ($sports as $sport) {
   if ($match != substr($sport, 0, $i)) {
    return substr($sport, 0, $i-1);
   }
  }
  $i++;
 }
 // Special case: No mismatch happened until loop end! Thus entire str1 is common prefix!
 return $sports[0];
}

$sports1 = array(
'Softball',
'Softball - Eastern',
'Softball - North Harbour');

$sports2 = array(
'Softball - Wester',
'Softball - Western',
);

$sports3 = array(
'Softball - Western',
'Softball - Western',
);

$sports4 = array(
'Softball - Westerner',
'Softball - Western',
);

echo("Output of the original function:\n"); // Failure scenarios

var_dump(shortest($sports1)); // NULL rather than the correct 'Softball'
var_dump(shortest($sports2)); // NULL rather than the correct 'Softball - Wester'
var_dump(shortest($sports3)); // NULL rather than the correct 'Softball - Western'
var_dump(shortest($sports4)); // Only works if the second string is at least one character longer!

echo("\nOutput of the corrected function:\n"); // All scenarios work
var_dump(shortestCorrect($sports1));
var_dump(shortestCorrect($sports2));
var_dump(shortestCorrect($sports3));
var_dump(shortestCorrect($sports4));