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

Using CtrlA + CtrlC + CtrlV is an advantage only after 4 'A's.

So I would do something like this (in pseudo-BASIC-code, since you haven't specified any proper language):

// We should not use the clipboard for the first four A's:
FOR I IN 1 TO MIN(N, 4)
    PRINT 'CLICK A'
NEXT
LET N1 = N - 4

// Generates the maximum number of pastes allowed:
FOR I IN 1 TO (N1 DIV 3) DO
    PRINT 'CTRL-A'
    PRINT 'CTRL-C'
    PRINT 'CTRL-V'
    LET N1 = N1 - 3
NEXT

// If we still have same keystrokes left, let's use them with simple CTRL-Vs
FOR I IN N1 TO N
    PRINT 'CTRL-V'
NEXT

Edit

1. Back to using a single CtrlV in the main loop.
2. Added some comments to explain what I'm trying to do here.
3. Fixed an issue with the "first four A's" block.