Solving a maze using recursion in python
So, I have an assignment which asks me to solve a maze using recursion. I will post the assignment guidelines so you can see what I am talking about. The professor didn't explain recursion that much, he gave us examples of recursion, which I will post, but I was hoping someone might be able to give me a more in depth explanation of the recursion, and how I would apply this to solving a maze. I'm not asking for anyone to write the code, I'm just hoping some explanations would put me on the right path. Thank you to anyone who answers.
Here are the examples I have:
def foo():
print("Before")
bar()
print("After")
def bar():
print("During")
def factorial(n):
"""n!"""
product = 1
for i in range(n,0,-1):
product *= i
return product
def recFac(n):
"""n! = n * (n-1)!"""
if(n == 1):
return 1
return n * recFac(n-1)
def hello():
"""Stack overflow!"""
hello()
def fib(n):
"""f(n) = f(n-1) + f(n-2)
f(0) = 0
f(1) = 1"""
if n == 0 or n == 1: #base case
return n
return fib(n-1) + fib(n-2) #recursive case
def mult(a,b):
"""a*b = a + a + a + a ..."""
#base case
if (b == 1):
return a
#recursive case
prod = mult(a,b-1)
prod *= a
return prod
def exp(a,b):
"""a ** b = a* a * a * a * a *.... 'b times'"""
#base case
if (b==0):
return 1
if (b == 1):
return a
#recursive case
return exp(a,b-1)*a
def pallindrome(word):
"""Returns True if word is a pallindrome, False otherwise"""
#base case
if word == "" or len(word)==1:
return True
#recursive case
if word[0] == word[len(word)-1]:
word = word[1:len(word)-1]
return pallindrome(word)
else:
return False
Here are the guidelines:
You are going to create a maze crawler capable of solving any maze you give it with the power of recursion!
Question 1 - Loading the maze
Before you can solve a maze you will have to load it. For this assignment you will use a simple text format for the maze. You may use this sample maze or create your own.
Your objective for this question is to load any given maze file, and read it into a 2-dimensional list. E.g.: loadMaze("somemaze.maze") should load the somemaze.maze file and create a list like the following...
[['#','#','#','#','#','#','#','#','#'],
['#','S','#',' ',' ',' ','#','E','#'],
['#',' ','#',' ','#',' ',' ',' ','#'],
['#',' ',' ',' ','#',' ','#',' ','#'],
['#', #','#','#','#','#','#','#','#']]
Note that the lists have been stripped of all '\r' and '\n' characters. In order to make the next question simpler you may make this list a global variable.
Next write a function that prints out the maze in a much nicer format:
E.g.,
####################################
#S# ## ######## # # # # #
# # # # # # #
# # ##### ## ###### # ####### # #
### # ## ## # # # #### #
# # # ####### # ### #E#
####################################
Test your code with different mazes before proceeding.
Question 2 - Preparing to solve the maze
Before you can solve the maze you need to find the starting point! Add a function to your code called findStart() that will search the maze (character-by-character) and return the x and y coordinate of the 'S' character. You may assume that at most one such character exists in the maze. If no 'S' is found in the maze return -1 as both the x and y coordinates.
Test your code with the 'S' in multiple locations (including no location) before proceeding.
Question 3 - Solving the maze!
Finally, you are ready to solve the maze recursively! Your solution should only require a single method: solve(y,x)
A single instance of the solve method should solve a single location in your maze. The parameters y and x are the current coordinates to be solved. There are a few things your solve method should accomplish. It should check if it is currently solving the location of the 'E'. In that case your solve method has completed successfully. Otherwise it should try to recursively solve the space to the right. Note, your method should only try to solve spaces, not walls ('#'). If that recursion doesn't lead to the end, then try down, then left, and up. If all that fails, your code should backtrack a step, and try another direction.
Lastly, while solving the maze, your code should leave indicators of its progress. If it is searching to the right, the current location should have a '>' in place of the empty space. If searching down put a 'v'. If searching left '<', and if searching up '^'. If your code has to backtrack remove the direction arrow, and set the location back to a ' '.
Once your maze is solved print out the maze again. You should a see step-by-step guide to walking the maze. E.g.,
main("somemaze.maze")
#########
#S# #E#
# # # #
# # # #
#########
S is at (1,1)
#########
#S#>>v#E#
#v#^#>>^#
#>>^# # #
#########
Test your code with different different start and end locations, and optionally over a variety of mazes.
Here is the code I have so far: But the code is not actually printing the track in the maze, and I'm not sure why.
def loadMaze():
readIt = open('Maze.txt', 'r')
readLines = readIt.readlines()
global mazeList
mazeList = [list(i.strip()) for i in readLines]
def showMaze():
for i in mazeList:
mazeprint = ''
for j in i:
mazeprint = mazeprint + j
print(mazeprint)
print('\n')
def solve(x,y, mazeList):
mazeList[x][y] = "o"
#Base case
if y > len(mazeList) or x > len(mazeList[y]):
return False
if mazeList[y][x] == "E":
return True
if mazeList[y][x] != " ":
return False
#marking
if solve(x+1,y) == True: #right
mazeList[x][y]= '>'
elif solve(x,y+1) == True: #down
mazeList[x][y]= 'v'
elif solve(x-1,y) == True: #left
mazeList[x][y]= '<'
elif solve(x,y-1) == True: #up
mazeList[x][y]= '^'
else:
mazeList[x][y]= ' '
return (mazeList[x][y]!= ' ')
Answer
Here is my solution of CodeEval's The Labirynth challenge:
import sys
sys.setrecursionlimit(5000)
class Maze(object):
FLOOR = ' '
WALLS = '*'
PATH = '+'
def __init__(self):
self.cols = 0
self.rows = 0
self.maze = []
def walk_forward(self, current_k, r, c):
self.maze[r][c] = current_k
next_k = current_k + 1
# up
if r > 1:
up = self.maze[r - 1][c]
if up != self.WALLS:
if up == self.FLOOR or int(up) > current_k:
self.walk_forward(next_k, r - 1, c)
# down
if r < self.rows - 1:
down = self.maze[r + 1][c]
if down != self.WALLS:
if down == self.FLOOR or int(down) > current_k:
self.walk_forward(next_k, r + 1, c)
# left
if c > 1:
left = self.maze[r][c - 1]
if left != self.WALLS:
if left == self.FLOOR or int(left) > current_k:
self.walk_forward(next_k, r, c - 1)
# right
if c < self.cols - 1:
right = self.maze[r][c + 1]
if right != self.WALLS:
if right == self.FLOOR or int(right) > current_k:
self.walk_forward(next_k, r, c + 1)
def walk_backward(self, r, c):
current_k = self.maze[r][c]
if not isinstance(current_k, int):
return False
self.maze[r][c] = self.PATH
up = self.maze[r - 1][c] if r > 0 else None
down = self.maze[r + 1][c] if r < self.rows - 1 else None
left = self.maze[r][c - 1] if c > 1 else None
right = self.maze[r][c + 1] if c < self.cols else None
passed = False
if up and isinstance(up, int) and up == current_k - 1:
self.walk_backward(r - 1, c)
passed = True
if down and isinstance(down, int) and down == current_k - 1:
self.walk_backward(r + 1, c)
passed = True
if left and isinstance(left, int) and left == current_k - 1:
self.walk_backward(r, c - 1)
passed = True
if right and isinstance(right, int) and right == current_k - 1:
self.walk_backward(r, c + 1)
def cleanup(self, cleanup_path=False):
for r in range(0, self.rows):
for c in range(0, self.cols):
if isinstance(self.maze[r][c], int):
self.maze[r][c] = self.FLOOR
if cleanup_path and self.maze[r][c] == self.PATH:
self.maze[r][c] = self.FLOOR
def solve(self, start='up', show_path=True):
# finding start and finish points
upper = lower = None
for c in range(0, self.cols):
if self.maze[0][c] == self.FLOOR:
upper = (0, c)
break
for c in range(0, self.cols):
if self.maze[self.rows - 1][c] == self.FLOOR:
lower = (self.rows - 1, c)
break
if start == 'up':
start = upper
finish = lower
else:
start = lower
finish = upper
self.cleanup(cleanup_path=True)
self.walk_forward(1, start[0], start[1])
length = self.maze[finish[0]][finish[1]]
if not isinstance(length, int):
length = 0
if show_path:
self.walk_backward(finish[0], finish[1])
self.cleanup(cleanup_path=False)
else:
self.cleanup(cleanup_path=True)
return length
def save_to_file(self, filename):
with open(filename, 'w') as f:
f.writelines(str(self))
def load_from_file(self, filename):
self.maze = []
with open(filename, 'r') as f:
lines = f.readlines()
for line in lines:
row = []
for c in line.strip():
row.append(c)
self.maze.append(row)
self.rows = len(self.maze)
self.cols = len(self.maze[0]) if self.rows > 0 else 0
def get_maze(self):
return copy.copy(self.maze)
def __str__(self):
as_string = u''
for row in self.maze:
as_string += u''.join([str(s)[-1] for s in row]) + "\n"
return as_string
maze = Maze()
maze.load_from_file(sys.argv[1])
maze.solve(show_path=True)
print str(maze)