Maximum number of characters using keystrokes A, Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V

Question

This is an interview question from google. I am not able to solve it by myself. Can somebody shed some light?

Write a program to print the sequence of keystrokes suc

Answer 1

Here's how I would approach it:

• assume CtrlA = select all
• assume CtrlC = copy selection
• assume CtrlV = paste copied selection

given some text, it takes 4 keystrokes to duplicate it:

• CtrlA to select it all
• CtrlC to copy it
• CtrlV to paste (this will paste over the selection - STATE YOUR ASSUMPTIONS)
• CtrlV to paste again which doubles it.

From there, you can consider doing 4 or 5 A's, then looping through the above. Note that doing ctrl + a, c, v, v will grow your text exponentially as you loop through. If remaining strokes < 4, just keep doing a CtrlV

The key to interviews @ places like Google is to state your assumptions, and communicate your thinking. they want to know how you solve problems.