From 49f74fa573d3551a8b1a18ee1e89c5a99f2e50f2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Peter Campbell Smith <pj.campbell.smith@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 2025 18:11:31 +0100
Subject: Week 342 - Fun with characters

---
 challenge-342/peter-campbell-smith/blog.txt     |  1 +
 challenge-342/peter-campbell-smith/perl/ch-1.pl | 48 +++++++++++++++++++++++++
 challenge-342/peter-campbell-smith/perl/ch-2.pl | 46 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 95 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 challenge-342/peter-campbell-smith/blog.txt
 create mode 100755 challenge-342/peter-campbell-smith/perl/ch-1.pl
 create mode 100755 challenge-342/peter-campbell-smith/perl/ch-2.pl

diff --git a/challenge-342/peter-campbell-smith/blog.txt b/challenge-342/peter-campbell-smith/blog.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9fcbd0bb93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/challenge-342/peter-campbell-smith/blog.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+http://ccgi.campbellsmiths.force9.co.uk/challenge/342
diff --git a/challenge-342/peter-campbell-smith/perl/ch-1.pl b/challenge-342/peter-campbell-smith/perl/ch-1.pl
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..228022e410
--- /dev/null
+++ b/challenge-342/peter-campbell-smith/perl/ch-1.pl
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+#!/usr/bin/perl
+
+# Blog: http://ccgi.campbellsmiths.force9.co.uk/challenge
+
+use v5.26;    # The Weekly Challenge - 2025-10-06
+use utf8;     # Week 342 - task 1 - Balance string
+use warnings; # Peter Campbell Smith
+binmode STDOUT, ':utf8';
+use Encode;
+
+balance_string('a0b1c2');
+balance_string('abc12');
+balance_string('0a2b1c3');
+balance_string('1a23');
+balance_string('ab123');
+balance_string('theweeklychallenge987654321098765432');
+balance_string('');
+balance_string('z');
+balance_string('9');
+
+sub balance_string {
+	
+	my (@symbols, @letters, @numbers, $c, $result, $diff, $paired);
+	
+	# sort string
+	@symbols = sort(split('', $_[0]));
+	@numbers = @letters = ();
+	
+	# separate numbers and letters
+	for $c (@symbols) {
+		if ($c lt 'a') { push(@numbers, $c) }
+		else           { push(@letters, $c) }
+	}
+	
+	# create result
+	$diff = @letters - @numbers;
+	if (abs($diff) <= 1 and @symbols) {
+		$paired = $diff < 0 ? @letters : @numbers;
+		$result  = shift(@letters) if $diff == 1;
+		$result .= shift(@numbers) . shift(@letters) for 1 .. $paired;
+		$result .= shift(@numbers) if $diff == -1;
+	} else {
+		$result = '';
+	}
+	
+	say qq[\nInput:  '$_[0]'];
+	say qq[Output: '$result'];
+}
diff --git a/challenge-342/peter-campbell-smith/perl/ch-2.pl b/challenge-342/peter-campbell-smith/perl/ch-2.pl
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..371d97ae43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/challenge-342/peter-campbell-smith/perl/ch-2.pl
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+#!/usr/bin/perl
+
+# Blog: http://ccgi.campbellsmiths.force9.co.uk/challenge
+
+use v5.26;    # The Weekly Challenge - 2025-10-06
+use utf8;     # Week 342 - task 2 - Max score
+use warnings; # Peter Campbell Smith
+binmode STDOUT, ':utf8';
+use Encode;
+
+max_score('0011');
+max_score('0000');
+max_score('1111');
+max_score('011101');
+max_score('10');
+
+my $string;
+$string .= int(rand(2)) for 0..99;
+max_score($string);
+
+sub max_score {
+	
+	my ($string, @numbers, $score, $best, $j, $explain);
+	
+	# initialise
+	$string = shift;
+	@numbers = split('', $string);
+	$best = -1;
+	
+	# count all the 1s
+	$score += $_ for @numbers;
+	
+	# move the boundary steadily right, adjusting the score
+	for $j (0 .. length($string) - 2) {
+		$score += $numbers[$j] == 1 ? -1 : 1;
+		
+		# check if this is the best
+		next unless $score > $best;
+		$best = $score;
+		$explain = substr($string, 0, $j + 1) . '~' . substr($string, $j + 1);
+	}
+	
+	# report
+	say qq[\nInput:  '$string'];
+	say qq[Output: $best: $explain];
+}
-- 
cgit