How to relocate an element in one array in C++ - c++

Question

I took this interview question and I failed, so I'm here to not fail again!
I have an array of int with size 16 and a 5 < givenIndex < 10.
I have to take the element in this index a print every possible array (there are 16) by moving the element at givenIndex through every position in array and pushing rest of elements.
For example:
int array[16] = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16};
int givenIndex = 6;
Since array[givenIndex] = 7, I need to move 7 to every possible position and print that array.
[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]
[7,1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]
[1,7,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]
[1,2,7,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]
And that's for 16 cases.
What I was trying was:
for(int i = 0;i<16;i++){
array[i] = array[indexInsercion]
if (i<indexInsert){
//right shift
array[i] = array[i+1]
}else if(i == indexInsert){
//no shift
}else{
//left shift
array[i] = array[i-1]
}
}
Can I get some help?

Answer 1

We can only guess what the interviewer expected to see. If I was the interviewer I would like to see that you keep things simple. This is code I think one can expect to be written from scratch in an interview situation:
#include <iostream>
#include <array>
template <size_t size>
void print_replaced(const std::array<int,size>& x,size_t index){
for (int i=0;i<size;++i){
for (int j=0;j<i;++j) {
if (j == index) continue;
std::cout << x[j] << " ";
}
std::cout << x[index] << " ";
for (int j=i;j<size;++j) {
if (j == index) continue;
std::cout << x[j] << " ";
}
std::cout << "\n";
}
}
int main() {
std::array<int,16> x{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16};
print_replaced(x,6);
}
It is a first approach at the problem, with a loop that prints 16 different combinations of the array elements. Printing each line follows simple logic: We print all elements before the one that should be replaced, then the one that should be shuffled, then the remaining elements.
It is simple, but wrong. Its output is:
7 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1 7 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1 2 7 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1 2 3 7 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1 2 3 4 7 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1 2 3 4 5 7 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 7 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 7 11 12 13 14 15 16
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 7 12 13 14 15 16
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 7 13 14 15 16
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 7 14 15 16
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 7 15 16
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 7 16
There is one line that appears twice and the last line is missing.
As an interviewer I would not be surprised that the first attempt does not produce correct output. I don't care about that. Thats not a minus. What I would care about is how you react on that. Do you know the next steps? Do you have a strategy to fix the wrong output? Or do you just panic because you didn't manage to write the correct code on the first attempt? This is what I would like to check in an interview and then thats the end of the exercise. I want to ask more different questions rather than giving you the time to fix all mistakes and write correct well tested code, because I know that this takes more time than we have in the interview.
I'll leave it to you to fix the above code ;)

Answer 2

Here's a quick stab at it. Basically just keep track of where the given index should go and print it there as well as skip the original position it would be in.
#include <iostream>
int main()
{
int array[16] = { 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16 };
int givenIndex = 6;
for (int p = 0; p <= 16; ++p)
{
if (p != givenIndex)
{
std::cout << "[";
for (int i = 0; i < 16; ++i)
{
if (i == p)
{
if (i > 0)
{
std::cout << ",";
}
std::cout << array[givenIndex];
}
if (array[i] != array[givenIndex])
{
if (i > 0 || p == 0)
{
std::cout << ",";
}
std::cout << array[i];
}
}
if (p == 16)
{
std::cout << "," << array[givenIndex];
}
std::cout << "]\n";
}
}
}
Output:
[7,1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]
[1,7,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]
[1,2,7,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]
[1,2,3,7,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]
[1,2,3,4,7,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]
[1,2,3,4,5,7,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,7,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,7,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,7,11,12,13,14,15,16]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,7,12,13,14,15,16]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,7,13,14,15,16]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,7,14,15,16]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,7,15,16]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,7,16]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,7]

Answer 3

If the expectation is to just print the elements of array in the given order:
Keep the track of current index of array element to be print, say indx -
If the position of current element processing is equal to row number then
print the element at givenIndex.
If indx is equal to givenIndex skip it and print indx + 1 element, otherwise print element at indx and increase indx by 1.
Implementation:
#include <iostream>
#include <array>
int main() {
std::array<int, 16> array = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16};
std::size_t givenIndex = 6;
for (std::size_t i = 0, indx = 0; i < array.size(); indx = 0, ++i) {
std::cout << '[';
for (std::size_t j = 0; j < array.size(); ++j) {
if (j == i) {
std::cout << array[givenIndex] << ',';
continue;
}
if (indx == givenIndex) {
++indx;
}
std::cout << array[indx++] << ',';
}
std::cout << ']';
std::cout << '\n';
}
return 0;
}
Output:
# ./a.out
[7,1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,7,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,7,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,7,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,7,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,7,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,7,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,7,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,7,11,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,7,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,7,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,7,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,7,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,7,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,7,]
If the expectation is to alter the order of elements in the array and then print the array:
First move the element at givenIndex to the 0th index of array and then -
Print array
In every iteration swap the current element with its next element in the array and print it.
Implementation:
#include <iostream>
#include <array>
void print_array (std::array<int, 16>& array) {
std::cout << '[';
for (std::size_t indx = 0; indx < array.size(); ++indx) {
std::cout << array[indx] << ',';
}
std::cout << ']';
std::cout << '\n';
}
void rearrange_array_elem (std::array<int, 16>& array, std::size_t givenIndx) {
// move the element at givneIndx to first position in array
for (std::size_t j = givenIndx; j > 0; --j) {
std::swap (array[j], array[j - 1]);
}
// print array
print_array (array);
for (std::size_t indx = 0; indx < array.size() - 1; ++indx) {
// swap current element with its next element
std::swap (array[indx], array[indx + 1]);
print_array (array);
}
}
int main() {
std::array<int, 16> array = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16};
std::size_t givenIndex = 6;
rearrange_array_elem (array, givenIndex);
return 0;
}
Output:
# ./a.out
[7,1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,7,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,7,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,7,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,7,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,7,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,7,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,7,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,7,11,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,7,12,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,7,13,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,7,14,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,7,15,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,7,16,]
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,7,]