- Added solutions by Eric Cheung.

- Added solutions by Laurent Rosenfeld.
- Added solutions by Mark Anderson.
- Added solutions by Niels van Dijke.
- Added solutions by PokGoPun.
- Added solutions by Luca Ferrari.
- Added solutions by David Ferrone.
- Added solutions by W. Luis Mochan.

24 files changed, 3123 insertions, 2878 deletions

diff --git a/challenge-253/eric-cheung/python/ch-1.py b/challenge-253/eric-cheung/python/ch-1.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..ac1c18f9c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/challenge-253/eric-cheung/python/ch-1.py
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+

+## Example 1

+arrWords = ["one.two.three", "four.five", "six"]

+strSeparator = "."

+

+## Example 2

+## arrWords = ["$perl$$", "$$raku$"]

+## strSeparator = "$"

+

+arrOutput = []

+for strLoop in arrWords:

+    arrOutput = arrOutput + strLoop.split(strSeparator)

+

+print (",".join(["\"" + strLoop + "\"" for strLoop in arrOutput if strLoop]))

diff --git a/challenge-253/eric-cheung/python/ch-2.py b/challenge-253/eric-cheung/python/ch-2.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..91e11aaa8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/challenge-253/eric-cheung/python/ch-2.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+

+def IsWeaker (rowA, rowB):

+    return True if rowA.count(1) <= rowB.count(1) else False

+

+## arrMatrix = [[1, 1, 0, 0, 0], [1, 1, 1, 1, 0], [1, 0, 0, 0, 0], [1, 1, 0, 0, 0], [1, 1, 1, 1, 1]]  ## Example 1

+arrMatrix = [[1, 0, 0, 0], [1, 1, 1, 1], [1, 0, 0, 0], [1, 0, 0, 0]]  ## Example 2

+

+arrIndx = [nIndx for nIndx in range(len(arrMatrix))]

+

+for nRowLoop in range(len(arrIndx) - 1):

+    for nColLoop in range(nRowLoop + 1, len(arrIndx)):

+        if not IsWeaker (arrMatrix[arrIndx[nRowLoop]], arrMatrix[arrIndx[nColLoop]]):

+            vTemp = arrIndx[nRowLoop]

+            arrIndx[nRowLoop] = arrIndx[nColLoop]

+            arrIndx[nColLoop] = vTemp

+

+print (arrIndx)

diff --git a/challenge-253/laurent-rosenfeld/blog.txt b/challenge-253/laurent-rosenfeld/blog.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3ce6bf5981
--- /dev/null
+++ b/challenge-253/laurent-rosenfeld/blog.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+https://blogs.perl.org/users/laurent_r/2024/01/perl-weekly-challenge-253-split-strings.html
diff --git a/challenge-253/laurent-rosenfeld/perl/ch-1.pl b/challenge-253/laurent-rosenfeld/perl/ch-1.pl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8cccb2a672
--- /dev/null
+++ b/challenge-253/laurent-rosenfeld/perl/ch-1.pl
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+use feature 'say';
+
+sub split_strings {
+    my ($sep, @strings) = @_;
+    $sep = quotemeta $sep;
+    my @result = grep { /\w+/ }
+        map { split $sep, $_ } @strings;
+    return @result;
+}
+
+my @tests = ( [ '.', ["one.two.three","four.five","six"] ],
+              [ '$', ['$perl$$', '$$raku$'] ] );
+for my $test (@tests) {
+    printf "%-30s => ",  "@{$test->[1]}";
+    say join " ", split_strings $test->[0], @{$test->[1]};
+}
diff --git a/challenge-253/laurent-rosenfeld/raku/ch-1.raku b/challenge-253/laurent-rosenfeld/raku/ch-1.raku
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..48e90b38e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/challenge-253/laurent-rosenfeld/raku/ch-1.raku
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+sub split-strings (:$sep, :@strings) {
+    my @result = grep { /\w+/ }, flat
+        map { split $sep, $_ }, @strings;
+    return @result;
+}
+
+
+my @tests = {
+    'separator' => '.',
+    'string' => ("one.two.three","four.five","six")
+    }, {
+    'separator' => '$',
+    'string' => ('$perl$$', '$$raku$')};
+for @tests -> %test {
+    printf "%-30s => ",  %test<string>;
+    say split-strings(sep => %test<separator>,
+                      strings => %test<string>);
+}
diff --git a/challenge-253/perlboy1967/perl/ch1.pl b/challenge-253/perlboy1967/perl/ch-1.pl
index b93afab37f..b93afab37f 100755
--- a/challenge-253/perlboy1967/perl/ch1.pl
+++ b/challenge-253/perlboy1967/perl/ch-1.pl
diff --git a/challenge-253/perlboy1967/perl/ch2.pl b/challenge-253/perlboy1967/perl/ch-2.pl
index 58d1e27c8a..58d1e27c8a 100755
--- a/challenge-253/perlboy1967/perl/ch2.pl
+++ b/challenge-253/perlboy1967/perl/ch-2.pl
diff --git a/stats/pwc-challenge-252.json b/stats/pwc-challenge-252.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..06efe7708a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stats/pwc-challenge-252.json
@@ -0,0 +1,665 @@
+{
+   "subtitle" : {
+      "text" : "[Champions: 35] Last updated at 2024-01-22 18:31:03 GMT"
+   },
+   "yAxis" : {
+      "title" : {
+         "text" : "Total Solutions"
+      }
+   },
+   "series" : [
+      {
+         "name" : "The Weekly Challenge - 252",
+         "colorByPoint" : 1,
+         "data" : [
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "Adam Russell",
+               "name" : "Adam Russell",
+               "y" : 2
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "Ali Moradi",
+               "y" : 5,
+               "drilldown" : "Ali Moradi"
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "Arne Sommer",
+               "y" : 3,
+               "name" : "Arne Sommer"
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 4,
+               "name" : "Athanasius",
+               "drilldown" : "Athanasius"
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "BarrOff",
+               "y" : 4,
+               "name" : "BarrOff"
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "Bob Lied",
+               "name" : "Bob Lied",
+               "y" : 2
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 2,
+               "name" : "Bruce Gray",
+               "drilldown" : "Bruce Gray"
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 2,
+               "name" : "Cheok-Yin Fung",
+               "drilldown" : "Cheok-Yin Fung"
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "David Ferrone",
+               "name" : "David Ferrone",
+               "y" : 2
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 2,
+               "name" : "E. Choroba",
+               "drilldown" : "E. Choroba"
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "Jaldhar H. Vyas",
+               "name" : "Jaldhar H. Vyas",
+               "y" : 5
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "Jan Krnavek",
+               "y" : 1,
+               "name" : "Jan Krnavek"
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "Jorg Sommrey",
+               "y" : 3,
+               "drilldown" : "Jorg Sommrey"
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "Laurent Rosenfeld",
+               "y" : 6,
+               "name" : "Laurent Rosenfeld"
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "Lubos Kolouch",
+               "y" : 4,
+               "drilldown" : "Lubos Kolouch"
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "Luca Ferrari",
+               "name" : "Luca Ferrari",
+               "y" : 10
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "Mark Anderson",
+               "y" : 2,
+               "drilldown" : "Mark Anderson"
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "Matthew Neleigh",
+               "y" : 2,
+               "drilldown" : "Matthew Neleigh"
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "Mustafa Aydin",
+               "y" : 2,
+               "name" : "Mustafa Aydin"
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "Nelo Tovar",
+               "y" : 2,
+               "name" : "Nelo Tovar"
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "Niels van Dijke",
+               "name" : "Niels van Dijke",
+               "y" : 2
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "Packy Anderson",
+               "y" : 5,
+               "name" : "Packy Anderson"
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "Paulo Custodio",
+               "name" : "Paulo Custodio",
+               "y" : 2
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "Peter Campbell Smith",
+               "name" : "Peter Campbell Smith",
+               "y" : 3
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "Peter Meszaros",
+               "y" : 2,
+               "name" : "Peter Meszaros"
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "Robbie Hatley",
+               "y" : 3,
+               "drilldown" : "Robbie Hatley"
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "Robert Ransbottom",
+               "y" : 2,
+               "drilldown" : "Robert Ransbottom"
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "Roger Bell_West",
+               "name" : "Roger Bell_West",
+               "y" : 5
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 2,
+               "name" : "Scott Sotka",
+               "drilldown" : "Scott Sotka"
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 3,
+               "name" : "Simon Green",
+               "drilldown" : "Simon Green"
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "Simon Proctor",
+               "name" : "Simon Proctor",
+               "y" : 2
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "Stephen G. Lynn",
+               "y" : 3,
+               "name" : "Stephen G. Lynn"
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "Thomas Kohler",
+               "y" : 4,
+               "name" : "Thomas Kohler"
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "Ulrich Rieke",
+               "y" : 4,
+               "drilldown" : "Ulrich Rieke"
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "W. Luis Mochan",
+               "y" : 3,
+               "drilldown" : "W. Luis Mochan"
+            }
+         ]
+      }
+   ],
+   "drilldown" : {
+      "series" : [
+         {
+            "name" : "Adam Russell",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ],
+            "id" : "Adam Russell"
+         },
+         {
+            "name" : "Ali Moradi",
+            "id" : "Ali Moradi",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Raku",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Blog",
+                  1
+               ]
+            ]
+         },
+         {
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Raku",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Blog",
+                  1
+               ]
+            ],
+            "id" : "Arne Sommer",
+            "name" : "Arne Sommer"
+         },
+         {
+            "name" : "Athanasius",
+            "id" : "Athanasius",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Raku",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ]
+         },
+         {
+            "id" : "BarrOff",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Raku",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ],
+            "name" : "BarrOff"
+         },
+         {
+            "id" : "Bob Lied",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ],
+            "name" : "Bob Lied"
+         },
+         {
+            "id" : "Bruce Gray",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Raku",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ],
+            "name" : "Bruce Gray"
+         },
+         {
+            "id" : "Cheok-Yin Fung",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ],
+            "name" : "Cheok-Yin Fung"
+         },
+         {
+            "name" : "David Ferrone",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ],
+            "id" : "David Ferrone"
+         },
+         {
+            "id" : "E. Choroba",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ],
+            "name" : "E. Choroba"
+         },
+         {
+            "name" : "Jaldhar H. Vyas",
+            "id" : "Jaldhar H. Vyas",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Raku",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Blog",
+                  1
+               ]
+            ]
+         },
+         {
+            "name" : "Jan Krnavek",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Raku",
+                  1
+               ]
+            ],
+            "id" : "Jan Krnavek"
+         },
+         {
+            "name" : "Jorg Sommrey",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Blog",
+                  1
+               ]
+            ],
+            "id" : "Jorg Sommrey"
+         },
+         {
+            "name" : "Laurent Rosenfeld",
+            "id" : "Laurent Rosenfeld",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Raku",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Blog",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ]
+         },
+         {
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Raku",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ],
+            "id" : "Lubos Kolouch",
+            "name" : "Lubos Kolouch"
+         },
+         {
+            "name" : "Luca Ferrari",
+            "id" : "Luca Ferrari",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Raku",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Blog",
+                  8
+               ]
+            ]
+         },
+         {
+            "name" : "Mark Anderson",
+            "id" : "Mark Anderson",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Raku",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ]
+         },
+         {
+            "name" : "Matthew Neleigh",
+            "id" : "Matthew Neleigh",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ]
+         },
+         {
+            "name" : "Mustafa Aydin",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Raku",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ],
+            "id" : "Mustafa Aydin"
+         },
+         {
+            "id" : "Nelo Tovar",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ],
+            "name" : "Nelo Tovar"
+         },
+         {
+            "name" : "Niels van Dijke",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ],
+            "id" : "Niels van Dijke"
+         },
+         {
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Raku",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Blog",
+                  1
+               ]
+            ],
+            "id" : "Packy Anderson",
+            "name" : "Packy Anderson"
+         },
+         {
+            "name" : "Paulo Custodio",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ],
+            "id" : "Paulo Custodio"
+         },
+         {
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Blog",
+                  1
+               ]
+            ],
+            "id" : "Peter Campbell Smith",
+            "name" : "Peter Campbell Smith"
+         },
+         {
+            "id" : "Peter Meszaros",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ],
+            "name" : "Peter Meszaros"
+         },
+         {
+            "name" : "Robbie Hatley",
+            "id" : "Robbie Hatley",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Blog",
+                  1
+               ]
+            ]
+         },
+         {
+            "id" : "Robert Ransbottom",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Raku",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ],
+            "name" : "Robert Ransbottom"
+         },
+         {
+            "id" : "Roger Bell_West",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Raku",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Blog",
+                  1
+               ]
+            ],
+            "name" : "Roger Bell_West"
+         },
+         {
+            "name" : "Scott Sotka",
+            "id" : "Scott Sotka",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Raku",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ]
+         },
+         {
+            "name" : "Simon Green",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Blog",
+                  1
+               ]
+            ],
+            "id" : "Simon Green"
+         },
+         {
+            "name" : "Simon Proctor",
+            "id" : "Simon Proctor",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Raku",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ]
+         },
+         {
+            "id" : "Stephen G. Lynn",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Blog",
+                  1
+               ]
+            ],
+            "name" : "Stephen G. Lynn"
+         },
+         {
+            "id" : "Thomas Kohler",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Blog",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ],
+            "name" : "Thomas Kohler"
+         },
+         {
+            "name" : "Ulrich Rieke",
+            "id" : "Ulrich Rieke",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Raku",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ]
+         },
+         {
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Blog",
+                  1
+               ]
+            ],
+            "id" : "W. Luis Mochan",
+            "name" : "W. Luis Mochan"
+         }
+      ]
+   },
+   "title" : {
+      "text" : "The Weekly Challenge - 252"
+   },
+   "xAxis" : {
+      "type" : "category"
+   },
+   "tooltip" : {
+      "followPointer" : 1,
+      "headerFormat" : "<span style='font-size:11px'>{series.name}</span><br/>",
+      "pointFormat" : "<span style='color:{point.color}'>{point.name}</span>: <b>{point.y:f}</b><br/>"
+   },
+   "legend" : {
+      "enabled" : 0
+   },
+   "plotOptions" : {
+      "series" : {
+         "dataLabels" : {
+            "enabled" : 1,
+            "format" : "{point.y}"
+         },
+         "borderWidth" : 0
+      }
+   },
+   "chart" : {
+      "type" : "column"
+   }
+}
diff --git a/stats/pwc-current.json b/stats/pwc-current.json
index 2d1d9c72f6..d1e8394d15 100644
--- a/stats/pwc-current.json
+++ b/stats/pwc-current.json
@@ -1,202 +1,93 @@
 {
    "title" : {
-      "text" : "The Weekly Challenge - 252"
+      "text" : "The Weekly Challenge - 253"
+   },
+   "series" : [
+      {
+         "colorByPoint" : 1,
+         "data" : [
+            {
+               "y" : 2,
+               "drilldown" : "David Ferrone",
+               "name" : "David Ferrone"
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "Laurent Rosenfeld",
+               "y" : 3,
+               "drilldown" : "Laurent Rosenfeld"
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 11,
+               "drilldown" : "Luca Ferrari",
+               "name" : "Luca Ferrari"
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "Mark Anderson",
+               "drilldown" : "Mark Anderson",
+               "y" : 2
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 2,
+               "drilldown" : "Niels van Dijke",
+               "name" : "Niels van Dijke"
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "W. Luis Mochan",
+               "y" : 3,
+               "drilldown" : "W. Luis Mochan"
+            }
+         ],
+         "name" : "The Weekly Challenge - 253"
+      }
+   ],
+   "yAxis" : {
+      "title" : {
+         "text" : "Total Solutions"
+      }
+   },
+   "tooltip" : {
+      "pointFormat" : "<span style='color:{point.color}'>{point.name}</span>: <b>{point.y:f}</b><br/>",
+      "followPointer" : 1,
+      "headerFormat" : "<span style='font-size:11px'>{series.name}</span><br/>"
+   },
+   "plotOptions" : {
+      "series" : {
+         "dataLabels" : {
+            "format" : "{point.y}",
+            "enabled" : 1
+         },
+         "borderWidth" : 0
+      }
    },
    "drilldown" : {
       "series" : [
          {
-            "id" : "Adam Russell",
+            "id" : "David Ferrone",
             "data" : [
                [
                   "Perl",
                   2
                ]
             ],
-            "name" : "Adam Russell"
+            "name" : "David Ferrone"
          },
          {
-            "id" : "Ali Moradi",
+            "id" : "Laurent Rosenfeld",
             "data" : [
                [
                   "Perl",
-                  2
-               ],
-               [
-                  "Raku",
-                  2
-               ],
-               [
-                  "Blog",
                   1
-               ]
-            ],
-            "name" : "Ali Moradi"
-         },
-         {
-            "name" : "Arne Sommer",
-            "data" : [
-               [
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