Python | Scramble strings in list

Last Updated : 13 Apr, 2023

Sometimes, while working with different applications, we can come across a problem in which we require to shuffle all the strings in the list input we get. This kind of problem can particularly occur in gaming domain. Let’s discuss certain ways in which this problem can be solved.

Method #1 : Using list comprehension + sample() + join() The combination of above functions can be used to solve this problem. In this, we need to disintegrate string into character list, scramble using sample(), rejoin them using join() and then remake list using list comprehension.

Python3

# Python3 code to demonstrate working of
# Scramble strings in list
# using list comprehension + sample() + join()
from random import sample 
 
# initialize list 
test_list = ['gfg', 'is', 'best', 'for', 'geeks']
 
# printing original list 
print("The original list : " + str(test_list))
 
# Scramble strings in list
# using list comprehension + sample() + join()
res = [''.join(sample(ele, len(ele))) for ele in test_list]
 
# printing result
print("Scrambled strings in lists are : " + str(res))

Output :

The original list : ['gfg', 'is', 'best', 'for', 'geeks']
Scrambled strings in lists are : ['fgg', 'is', 'btse', 'rof', 'sgeke']

Time complexity: O(n), where n is the length of the numbers list. The list comprehension + sample() + join() have a time complexity of O(n)

Auxiliary Space: O(n),where n is the length of the numbers list.

Method #2 : Using list comprehension + shuffle() + join() This is similar to the above method. The only difference is that shuffle() is used to perform scramble task than using sample().

Python3

# Python3 code to demonstrate working of
# Scramble strings in list
# using list comprehension + shuffle() + join()
from random import shuffle
 
# Utility function 
def perform_scramble(ele):
    ele = list(ele)
    shuffle(ele)
    return ''.join(ele)
 
# initialize list 
test_list = ['gfg', 'is', 'best', 'for', 'geeks']
 
# printing original list 
print("The original list : " + str(test_list))
 
# Scramble strings in list
# using list comprehension + shuffle() + join()
res = [perform_scramble(ele) for ele in test_list]
 
# printing result
print("Scrambled strings in lists are : " + str(res))

Output :

The original list : ['gfg', 'is', 'best', 'for', 'geeks']
Scrambled strings in lists are : ['fgg', 'is', 'btse', 'rof', 'sgeke']

Using str.maketrans() and str.translate():

Approach:

In this approach, we will create a translation table using the str.maketrans() method and then apply it to each string using the str.translate() method.

Python3

import random
 
def scramble_strings(strings):
    result = []
    for s in strings:
        table = str.maketrans(s, ''.join(random.sample(s, len(s))))
        result.append(s.translate(table))
    return result
strings = ['gfg', 'is', 'best', 'for', 'geeks']
scrambled = scramble_strings(strings)
print("The original list:", strings)
print("Scrambled strings in lists are:", scrambled)

Output

The original list: ['gfg', 'is', 'best', 'for', 'geeks']
Scrambled strings in lists are: ['ggg', 'is', 'tbse', 'for', 'eeegk']

Time complexity: O(n * k) where n is the number of strings in the list and k is the average length of the strings.
Auxiliary Space: O(k) where k is the maximum length of the strings in the list.

METHOD 3:Using for.

APPROACH:

This Approach tells how to scramble the strings in a given list of strings by shuffling the characters in each string between the first and last characters while keeping the first and last characters of each string in their original position.

ALGORITHM:

1.Import the random module
2.Create an original list of strings
3.Create an empty list to store scrambled strings
4.Iterate over each string in the original list
a. Extract the characters between the first and last characters of the string
b. Shuffle the extracted characters using the shuffle() method from the random module
c. Combine the first character, shuffled characters, and the last character of the string
d. Append the scrambled string to the scrambled list
5.Print the scrambled list

Python3

import random
 
# Original list of strings
original_list = ['gfg', 'is', 'best', 'for', 'geeks']
 
# Empty list to store scrambled strings
scrambled_list = []
 
# Iterate over each string in the original list
for string in original_list:
    # Scramble the characters between the first and last characters
    middle_chars = list(string[1:-1])
    random.shuffle(middle_chars)
    # Combine the first, scrambled middle, and last characters
    scrambled_string = string[0] + ''.join(middle_chars) + string[-1]
    # Append the scrambled string to the list of scrambled strings
    scrambled_list.append(scrambled_string)
 
# Print the scrambled list
print("Scrambled strings in list are:", scrambled_list)

Output

Scrambled strings in list are: ['gfg', 'is', 'best', 'for', 'gkees']

Time complexity: O(n * k * log k), where n is the number of strings in the list and k is the maximum length of a string in the list. The shuffle operation takes O(k * log k) time complexity, and we perform it for each string in the list.

Auxiliary Space: O(n * k), where n is the number of strings in the list and k is the maximum length of a string in the list. We create a new string of length k for each string in the list.

Suggest improvement

Lists Of Strings In Python

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