Evaluating a string of simple mathematical expressions [closed]

Answer 1

J

Number of characters: 208

After Jeff Moser's comment, I realized that I had completely forgotten about this language... I'm no expert, but my first attempt went rather well.

e=:>@{:@f@;:
f=:''&(4 :0)
'y x'=.x g y
while.($y)*-.')'={.>{.y do.'y x'=.(x,>(-.'/'={.>{.y){('%';y))g}.y end.y;x
)
g=:4 :0
z=.>{.y
if.z='('do.'y z'=.f}.y else.if.z='-'do.z=.'_',>{.}.y end.end.(}.y);":".x,z
)

It's a bit annoying, having to map x/y and -z into J's x%y and _z. Without that, maybe 50% of this code could disappear.

Answer 2

C (VS2005)

Number of Characters: 1360

Abuse of preprocessor and warnings for fun code layout (scroll down to see):

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#define b main
#define c(a) b(a,0)
#define d -1
#define e -2
#define g break
#define h case
#define hh h
#define hhh h
#define w(i) case i
#define i return
#define j switch
#define k float
#define l realloc
#define m sscanf
#define n int _
#define o char
#define t(u) #u
#define q(r) "%f" t(r)  "n"
#define s while
#define v default
#define ex exit
#define W printf
#define x fn()
#define y strcat
#define z strcpy
#define Z strlen

char*p    =0    ;k    *b    (n,o**    a){k*f
;j(_){    hh   e:     i*    p==40?    (++p,c
(d        ))  :(      f=        l(        0,
4)        ,m (p       ,q        (%        ),
f,&_),    p+=_        ,f       );        hh
d:f=c(    e);s        (1      ){        j(
    *p    ++ ){       hh     0:        hh
    41    :i  f;      hh    43        :*
f+=*c(    e)   ;g     ;h    45:*f=    *f-*c(
e);g;h    42    :*    f=    *f**c(    e);g;h

47:*f      /=*c      (e);     g;   v:    c(0);}
}w(1):    if(p&&    printf    (q  ((     "\\"))
,*  c(    d)  ))    g;  hh    0: ex      (W
(x  ))    ;v  :p    =(        p?y:       z)(l(p
,Z(1[     a]  )+    (p        ?Z(p           )+
1:1))     ,1  [a    ])  ;b    (_ -1          ,a
+1  );    g;  }i    0;};fn    ()  {n     =42,p=
43  ;i     "Er"      "ro"     t(   r)    "\n";}

Answer 3

Ruby

Number of characters: 103

N='( *-?[\d.]+ *)'
def e x
x.sub!(/\(#{N}\)|#{N}([^.\d])#{N}/){$1or(e$2).send$3,e($4)}?e(x):x.to_f
end

This is a non-recursive version of The Wicked Flea's solution. Parenthesized sub-expressions are evaluated bottom-up instead of top-down.

Edit: Converting the 'while' to a conditional + tail recursion has saved a few characters, so it is no longer non-recursive (though the recursion is not semantically necessary.)

Edit: Borrowing Daniel Martin's idea of merging the regexps saves another 11 characters!

Edit: That recursion is even more useful than I first thought! x.to_f can be rewritten as e(x), if x happens to contain a single number.

Edit: Using 'or' instead of '||' allows a pair of parentheses to be dropped.

Long version:

# Decimal number, as a capturing group, for substitution
# in the main regexp below.
N='( *-?[\d.]+ *)'

# The evaluation function
def e(x)
  matched = x.sub!(/\(#{N}\)|#{N}([^\d.])#{N}/) do
    # Group 1 is a numeric literal in parentheses.  If this is present then
    # just return it.
    if $1
      $1
    # Otherwise, $3 is an operator symbol and $2 and $4 are the operands
    else
      # Recursively call e to parse the operands (we already know from the
      # regexp that they are numeric literals, and this is slightly shorter
      # than using :to_f)
      e($2).send($3, e($4))
      # We could have converted $3 to a symbol ($3.to_s) or converted the
      # result back to string form, but both are done automatically anyway
    end
  end
  if matched then
    # We did one reduction. Now recurse back and look for more.
    e(x)
  else
    # If the string doesn't look like a non-trivial expression, assume it is a
    # string representation of a real number and attempt to parse it
    x.to_f
  end
end

Answer 4

C# with Regex Love

Number of characters: 384

Fully-obfuscated:

float E(string i){i=i.Replace(" ","");Regex b=new Regex(@"\((?>[^()]+|\((?<D>)|\)(?<-D>))*(?(D)(?!))\)");i=b.Replace(i,m=>Eval(m.Value.Substring(1,m.Length-2)).ToString());float r=0;foreach(Match m in Regex.Matches(i,@"(?<=^|\D)-?[\d.]+")){float f=float.Parse(m.Value);if(m.Index==0)r=f;else{char o=i[m.Index-1];if(o=='+')r+=f;if(o=='-')r-=f;if(o=='*')r*=f;if(o=='/')r/=f;}}return r;}

Not-obfuscated:

private static float Eval(string input)
{
    input = input.Replace(" ", "");
    Regex balancedMatcher = new Regex(@"\(
                                            (?>
                                                [^()]+
                                            |
                                                \( (?<Depth>)
                                            |
                                                \) (?<-Depth>)
                                            )*
                                            (?(Depth)(?!))
                                        \)", RegexOptions.IgnorePatternWhitespace);
    input = balancedMatcher.Replace(input, m => Eval(m.Value.Substring(1, m.Length - 2)).ToString());

    float result = 0;

    foreach (Match m in Regex.Matches(input, @"(?<=^|\D)-?[\d.]+"))
    {
        float floatVal = float.Parse(m.Value);
        if (m.Index == 0)
        {
            result = floatVal;
        }
        else
        {
            char op = input[m.Index - 1];
            if (op == '+') result += floatVal;
            if (op == '-') result -= floatVal;
            if (op == '*') result *= floatVal;
            if (op == '/') result /= floatVal;
        }
    }

    return result;
}

Takes advantage of .NET's Regex balancing group feature.

Answer 5

Ruby 1.8.7

Number of characters: 620

Do try and take it easy on my implementation, it's the first time I've written an expression parser in my life! I guarantee that it isn't the best.

Obfuscated:

def solve_expression(e)
t,r,s,c,n=e.chars.to_a,[],'','',''
while(c=t.shift)
n=t[0]
if (s+c).match(/^(-?)[.\d]+$/) || (!n.nil? && n.match(/\d/) && c=='-')
s+=c
elsif (c=='-' && n=='(') || c=='('
m,o,x=c=='-',1,''
while(c=t.shift)
o+=1 if c=='('
o-=1 if c==')'
x+=c unless c==')' && o==0
break if o==0
end
r.push(m ? -solve_expression(x) : solve_expression(x))
s=''
elsif c.match(/[+\-\/*]/)
r.push(c) and s=''
else
r.push(s) if !s.empty?
s=''
end
end
r.push(s) unless s.empty?
i=1
a=r[0].to_f
while i<r.count
b,c=r[i..i+1]
c=c.to_f
case b
when '+': a=a+c
when '-': a=a-c
when '*': a=a*c
when '/': a=a/c
end
i+=2
end
a
end

Readable:

def solve_expression(expr)
  chars = expr.chars.to_a # characters of the expression
  parts = [] # resulting parts
  s,c,n = '','','' # current string, character, next character

  while(c = chars.shift)
    n = chars[0]
    if (s + c).match(/^(-?)[.\d]+$/) || (!n.nil? && n.match(/\d/) && c == '-') # only concatenate when it is part of a valid number
      s += c
    elsif (c == '-' && n == '(') || c == '(' # begin a sub-expression
      negate = c == '-'
      open = 1
      subExpr = ''
      while(c = chars.shift)
        open += 1 if c == '('
        open -= 1 if c == ')'
        # if the number of open parenthesis equals 0, we've run to the end of the
        # expression.  Make a new expression with the new string, and add it to the
        # stack.
        subExpr += c unless c == ')' && open == 0
        break if open == 0
      end
      parts.push(negate ? -solve_expression(subExpr) : solve_expression(subExpr))
      s = ''
    elsif c.match(/[+\-\/*]/)
      parts.push(c) and s = ''
    else
      parts.push(s) if !s.empty?
      s = ''
    end
  end
  parts.push(s) unless s.empty? # expression exits 1 character too soon.

  # now for some solutions!
  i = 1
  a = parts[0].to_f # left-most value is will become the result
  while i < parts.count
    b,c = parts[i..i+1]
    c = c.to_f
    case b
      when '+': a = a + c
      when '-': a = a - c
      when '*': a = a * c
      when '/': a = a / c
    end
    i += 2
  end
  a
end

Answer 6

C#

Number of Characters: 355

I took Noldorin's Answer and modified it, so give Noldorin 99% of the credit for this. Best I could do with the algorithm was using was 408 characters. See Noldorin's Answer for the clearer code version.

Changes made:
Change char comparisons to compare against numbers.
Removed some default declarations and combined same type of declarations.
Re-worked some of the if statments.

float q(string x){float v,n;if(!float.TryParse(x,out v)){x+=';';int t=0,l=0,i=0;char o,s='?',p='+';for(;i<x.Length;i++){o=s;if(x[i]!=32){s=x[i];if(char.IsDigit(x[i])|s==46|(s==45&o!=49))s='1';if(s==41)l--;if(s!=o&l==0){if(o==49|o==41){n=q(x.Substring(t,i-t));v=p==43?v+n:p==45?v-n:p==42?v*n:p==47?v/n:v;p=x[i];}t=i;if(s==40)t++;}if(s==40)l++;}}}return v;}

Edit: knocked it down some more, from 361 to 355, by removing one of the return statments.