Looping in a spiral

Question

A friend was in need of an algorithm that would let him loop through the elements of an NxM matrix (N and M are odd). I came up with a solution, but I wanted to see if my fellow SO'ers could come up with a better solution.

I'm posting my solution as an answer to this question.

Example Output:

For a 3x3 matrix, the output should be:

(0, 0) (1, 0) (1, 1) (0, 1) (-1, 1) (-1, 0) (-1, -1) (0, -1) (1, -1)

Furthermore, the algorithm should support non-square matrices, so for example for a 5x3 matrix, the output should be:

(0, 0) (1, 0) (1, 1) (0, 1) (-1, 1) (-1, 0) (-1, -1) (0, -1) (1, -1) (2, -1) (2, 0) (2, 1) (-2, 1) (-2, 0) (-2, -1)

Answer 1

Python looping clockwise spiral code using Can Berk Güder answer.

def spiral(X, Y):
    x = y = 0
    dx = 0
    dy = 1
    for i in range(max(X, Y)**2):
        if (-X/2 < x <= X/2) and (-Y/2 < y <= Y/2):
            print (x, y)
            # DO STUFF...
        if x == -y or (x < 0 and x == y) or (x > 0 and x-1 == y):
            dx, dy = dy, -dx
        x, y = x+dx, y+dy

Answer 2

Davidont's excellent solution in VB.Net

    Public Function Spiral(n As Integer) As RowCol
    ' given n an index in the squared spiral
    ' p the sum of point in inner square
    ' a the position on the current square
    ' n = p + a
    ' starts with row 0 col -1
    Dim r As Integer = CInt(Math.Floor((Math.Sqrt(n + 1) - 1) / 2) + 1)

    ' compute radius : inverse arithmetic sum of 8+16+24+...=
    Dim p As Integer = (8 * r * (r - 1)) \ 2
    ' compute total point on radius -1 : arithmetic sum of 8+16+24+...

    Dim en As Integer = r * 2
    ' points by face

    Dim a As Integer = (1 + n - p) Mod (r * 8)
    ' compute the position and shift it so the first is (-r,-r) but (-r+1,-r)
    ' so square can connect

    Dim row As Integer
    Dim col As Integer

    Select Case Math.Floor(a \ (r * 2))
        ' find the face : 0 top, 1 right, 2, bottom, 3 left
        Case 0
            row = a - r
            col = -r
        Case 1
            row = r
            col = (a Mod en) - r
        Case 2
            row = r - (a Mod en)
            col = r
        Case 3
            row = -r
            col = r - (a Mod en)
    End Select

    Return New RowCol(row, col)
End Function

Answer 3

I love python's generators.

def spiral(N, M):
    x,y = 0,0   
    dx, dy = 0, -1

    for dumb in xrange(N*M):
        if abs(x) == abs(y) and [dx,dy] != [1,0] or x>0 and y == 1-x:  
            dx, dy = -dy, dx            # corner, change direction

        if abs(x)>N/2 or abs(y)>M/2:    # non-square
            dx, dy = -dy, dx            # change direction
            x, y = -y+dx, x+dy          # jump

        yield x, y
        x, y = x+dx, y+dy

Testing with:

print 'Spiral 3x3:'
for a,b in spiral(3,3):
    print (a,b),

print '\n\nSpiral 5x3:'
for a,b in spiral(5,3):
    print (a,b),

You get:

Spiral 3x3:
(0, 0) (1, 0) (1, 1) (0, 1) (-1, 1) (-1, 0) (-1, -1) (0, -1) (1, -1) 

Spiral 5x3:
(0, 0) (1, 0) (1, 1) (0, 1) (-1, 1) (-1, 0) (-1, -1) (0, -1) (1, -1) (2, -1) (2, 0) (2, 1) (-2, 1) (-2, 0) (-2, -1)

Answer 4

Haskell, take your pick:

spiral x y = (0, 0) : concatMap ring [1 .. max x' y'] where
    ring n | n > x' = left x' n  ++ right x' (-n)
    ring n | n > y' = up   n  y' ++ down (-n) y'
    ring n          = up n n ++ left n n ++ down n n ++ right n n
    up    x y = [(x, n) | n <- [1-y .. y]]; down = (.) reverse . up
    right x y = [(n, y) | n <- [1-x .. x]]; left = (.) reverse . right
    (x', y') = (x `div` 2, y `div` 2)

spiral x y = filter (\(x',y') -> 2*abs x' <= x && 2*abs y' <= y) .
             scanl (\(a,b) (c,d) -> (a+c,b+d)) (0,0) $
             concat [ (:) (1,0) . tail 
                    $ concatMap (replicate n) [(0,1),(-1,0),(0,-1),(1,0)]
                    | n <- [2,4..max x y] ]

Answer 5

C# version, handles non-square sizes as well.

private static Point[] TraverseSpiral(int width, int height) {
    int numElements = width * height + 1;
    Point[] points = new Point[numElements];

    int x = 0;
    int y = 0;
    int dx = 1;
    int dy = 0;
    int xLimit = width - 0;
    int yLimit = height - 1;
    int counter = 0;

    int currentLength = 1;
    while (counter < numElements) {
        points[counter] = new Point(x, y);

        x += dx;
        y += dy;

        currentLength++;
        if (dx > 0) {
            if (currentLength >= xLimit) {
                dx = 0;
                dy = 1;
                xLimit--;
                currentLength = 0;
            }
        } else if (dy > 0) {
            if (currentLength >= yLimit) {
                dx = -1;
                dy = 0;
                yLimit--;
                currentLength = 0;
            }
        } else if (dx < 0) {
            if (currentLength >= xLimit) {
                dx = 0;
                dy = -1;
                xLimit--;
                currentLength = 0;
            }
        } else if (dy < 0) {
            if (currentLength >= yLimit) {
                dx = 1;
                dy = 0;
                yLimit--;
                currentLength = 0;
            }
        }

        counter++;
    }

    Array.Reverse(points);
    return points;
}

Answer 6

Here is my attempt for simple C solution. First print the outer spiral and move one block inside..and repeat.

#define ROWS        5
#define COLS        5
//int A[ROWS][COLS] = { {1, 2, 3, 4}, {5, 6, 7, 8}, {11, 12, 13, 14}, {15, 16, 17, 18} };
//int A[ROWS][COLS] = { {1, 2, 3}, {6, 7, 8}, { 12, 13, 14} };
//int A[ROWS][COLS] = { {1, 2}, {3, 4}};

int A[ROWS][COLS] = { {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}, {6, 7, 8, 9, 10}, {11, 12, 13, 14, 15} , {16, 17, 18, 19, 20}, {21, 22, 23, 24, 25} };


void print_spiral(int rows, int cols)
{
    int row = 0;
    int offset = 0;

    while (offset < (ROWS - 1)) {
        /* print one outer loop at a time. */
        for (int col = offset; col <= cols; col++) {
            printf("%d ", A[offset][col]);
        }

        for (row = offset + 1; row <= rows; row++) {
            printf("%d ", A[row][cols]);
        }

        for (int col = cols - 1; col >= offset; col--) {
            printf("%d ", A[rows][col]);
        }

        for (row = rows - 1; row >= offset + 1; row--) {
            printf("%d ", A[row][offset]);
        }

       /* Move one block inside */
        offset++;
        rows--;
        cols--;
    }
    printf("\n");
}

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
    print_spiral(ROWS-1, COLS-1);
    return 0;
}