Find the longest word in an array

Question

Your challenge is to take an array of strings and output the longest string in the array. So for

["tiny", "small", "bigger", "biggest"]

the output would be biggest.

If two elements of the array have the same length, you should choose the one that appears first in the array. That means if the array looks like this:

["one", "two", "no"]

the output is one, but if the array looked like this:

["two", "one", "no"]

the output is two.

As this is code-golf, the shortest code in bytes wins.

2 notes: 1 It's heavily discouraged if the question is changed and invalidates existing answer, and 2 the Sandbox exists for exactly that reason (make sure challenges are good before posting) — user202729, Commented Dec 20, 2017 at 10:54
Since I don't think anyone else has mentioned it -- Hi, and welcome to PPCG! — AdmBorkBork, Commented Dec 20, 2017 at 14:21
No you don't have to handle the case where the array is empty. But if you want you can. — Doggo, Commented Dec 20, 2017 at 14:25
2 hours? That's far, far too quick to be accepting an answer. — Shaggy, Commented Dec 20, 2017 at 15:05

score 2 · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-23 06:32:07Z

2

Bash, 44 bytes

IFS=$'\n';egrep -m1 .{`wc -L<<<"$*"`}<<<"$*"

Try it online!

edited Mar 23, 2018 at 6:32

answered Dec 21, 2017 at 3:34

user17752

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cab404 · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-24 07:03:58Z

2

dc, 39 38 36 bytes

0sl[slssdd]sG[dZdll!>Gooz0<M]dsMxlsp

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Edit: -1 byte, filling up empty space by 'd' instead

Edit: -2 bytes, thanks @brhfl for suggestion!

edited Mar 24, 2018 at 7:03

answered Dec 20, 2017 at 16:20

cab404

1413 bronze badges

1

\$\begingroup\$ Looks like you can shave off a byte by moving the ? input behind (or in front of) your initial 0sl instead (or, typically it is allowed to just assume the stack is input, ? can likely be omitted for another byte), and then changing sMlMx to dsMx. \$\endgroup\$
– brhfl
Commented Mar 23, 2018 at 20:47
\$\begingroup\$ @brhfl thanks for suggestion! \$\endgroup\$
– cab404
Commented Mar 24, 2018 at 7:07

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Europe2048 · Accepted Answer · 2024-08-31 06:44:28Z

2

Uiua^SBCS, 9 7 bytes

⊏⊢⍖≡◇⧻.

Try it here!

Both the input and output is □ boxed. Does not work on empty arrays.

Explanation

Code      | Desc                    | Stack
⊏⊢⍖≡◇⧻. |                          | {"tiny" "small" "bigger" "biggest"}
    ≡◇⧻. | array of lengths         | {"tiny" "small" "bigger" "biggest"} [4 5 6 7]
  ⍖     | index of descending sort | {"tiny" "small" "bigger" "biggest"} [3 2 1 0]
 ⊢       | first element            | {"tiny" "small" "bigger" "biggest"}
⊏        | select that index        | ⌜biggest⌟

edited Aug 31 at 6:44

answered Aug 29 at 6:07

Europe2048

5942 silver badges8 bronze badges

\$\begingroup\$ 7 bytes with ⍖ \$\endgroup\$
– nyxbird
Commented Aug 30 at 21:44

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Community · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-17 09:04:33Z

1

APL+WIN, 11 bytes

s[↑⍒∊⍴¨s←⎕]

Prompts for screen input in the form 'abc' 'defg' hijklm'

edited Jun 17, 2020 at 9:04

CommunityBot

1

answered Dec 20, 2017 at 19:17

Graham

6,8461 gold badge15 silver badges11 bronze badges

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Xcali · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-20 20:21:11Z

1

Perl 5, 38 bytes

say((sort{$a=~y///c<=$b=~y///c}<>)[0])

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answered Dec 20, 2017 at 20:21

Xcali

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Toby Speight · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-21 15:17:44Z

C++, 125 bytes

Accepts input as a pair of iterators; returns an iterator to the longest string. The array must not be empty (i.e. the iterators must be different).

#include<algorithm>
template<class I>I f(I a,I b){return std::max_element(a,b,[](auto&a,auto&b){return a.size()<b.size();});}

Demo

#include <string>
#include <iostream>
#include <iterator>
int main()
{
    std::string strings[] = { "Programming", "Puzzles", "and", "Code", "Golf" };

    std::cout << *f(std::begin(strings), std::end(strings)) << std::endl;
}

The definition of std::max_element() guarantees that

If several elements in the range are equivalent to the greatest element, returns the iterator to the first such element.

\$\begingroup\$ If you're using GCC, you can use #import<regex>. \$\endgroup\$
– user202729
Commented Dec 24, 2017 at 3:36 — user202729, Commented Dec 24, 2017 at 3:36

caird coinheringaahin g · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-24 06:50:58Z

1

Jelly, 4 bytes

LÐṀḢ

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Maximum (ÐṀ) by length (L). Take Head (Ḣ).

Jelly, 4 bytes

ṚLÞṪ

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Reverse. Sort by length. Take tail (last element).

edited Dec 24, 2017 at 6:50

caird coinheringaahin g♦

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answered Dec 24, 2017 at 3:38

user202729

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Taylor Raine · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-02 19:28:30Z

1

Javascript ES5, 41 bytes

Since there was already a solution using sort...

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a=>a.reduce((x,y)=>x.length>=y.length?x:y)

edited Jan 2, 2018 at 19:28

Taylor Raine

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answered Dec 21, 2017 at 17:31

Jack

1312 bronze badges

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ovs · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-14 17:26:37Z

1

Coconut, 15 13 bytes

max$(key=len)

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edited Feb 14, 2018 at 17:26

answered Feb 10, 2018 at 12:51

ovs

60.6k3 gold badges47 silver badges161 bronze badges

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caird coinheringaahin g · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-11 12:57:16Z

Add++, 7 bytes

L,bU«bL

Try it online!

More interesting, 32 byte version:

L,vbU§bLdbLBkÞ{g}@
D,g,@,bLBK=

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How they work

L,	; Create a lambda function
	; Example argument:         		[["two" "one" "abc" "no"]]
    bU	; Evaluate as list; 			STACK = ['two' 'one' 'abc' 'no']
    «bL	; Take the value with the max length;	STACK = ['two']

And the 32 byte version:

L,		; Create a lambda function
		; Example argument: 		['["two" "one" "no"]']
	vbU	; Evaluate;		STACK = ['two' 'one' 'no']
	§bL	; Sort by length;	STACK = ['no' 'two' 'one']
	dbLBk	; Save length;		STACK = ['no' 'two' 'one']	REGISTER = 3
	Þ{g}	; Filter by 'g';	STACK = ['two' 'one']
	@	; Reverse;		STACK = ['one' 'two']
		; Implicitly return the top element:   'two'

D,g,@,		; Create a function 'g'
		; Example argument:		['two']
	bL	; Length;		STACK =	[3]
	BK=	; Equal to register;	STACK = [1]

Conor O'Brien · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-25 14:31:04Z

1

Attache, 9 bytes

MaxBy&:`#

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This is simply bonding the size operator (`#) to the left of MaxBy. This is equivalent to:

f[x] := MaxBy[Size, x]

...which selects the first element with the largest size in x.

answered Mar 25, 2018 at 14:31

Conor O'Brien

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user41805 · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-21 19:32:14Z

1

jq `-r`, 19 15 bytes

Golfed 4 bytes after learning min_by is a builtin.

min_by(-length)

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(Without -r the output string is surrounded with "s.)

edited Dec 21, 2018 at 19:32

answered Dec 21, 2018 at 19:20

user41805

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snail_ · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-22 04:46:34Z

1

Kotlin, 21 bytes

{it.maxBy{it.length}}

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edited Dec 22, 2018 at 4:46

answered Dec 21, 2018 at 19:53

snail_

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\$\begingroup\$ I'm afraid that, if you don't count the whole function, it becomes a snippet, so it's invalid. \$\endgroup\$
– Erik the Outgolfer
Commented Dec 21, 2018 at 21:23
\$\begingroup\$ I've seen another kotlin answer somewhere else that did the same thing so I figured it might be valid; I'll switch it to a lambda \$\endgroup\$
– snail_
Commented Dec 22, 2018 at 4:45

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david · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-22 09:23:30Z

1

Tcl, 93 bytes

proc c a\ b {expr [string le $a]<[string le $b]}
proc L l {return [lindex [lsort -c c $l] 0]}

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Quite disappointed by the score, should/could be better. Thought about this one-proc version:

proc L l {
 set m  [lmap e $l {regsub -all . $e 1}]
 return [lindex $l [lsearch $m [expr max([join $m ,])]]]
}

but it's longer.

answered Dec 22, 2018 at 9:23

david

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cyclaminist · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-22 10:08:05Z

Lua, 70 64 bytes

function f(a,...)x=...and f(...)return x and#x>#a and x or a end

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x is set to the second argument if that is falsy, otherwise the longest of the second argument and up. The function returns x if it is truthy and longer than the first argument, else the first argument.

No type-checking, so works not only for a sequence of strings, but for sequences containing tables, or anything with a __len metamethod that returns a number. For instance f("tiny", {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}, debug.setmetatable(6, { __len = function (self) return self end })) returns 6.

This technically breaks the rule of operating on an array (in Lua, a table) because it operates on an argument list, but operating on a table seemed more complicated (table.sort is not stable). A table can be unpacked into the function: f(table.unpack { 'oh', 'one', 'two' }).

DialFrost · Accepted Answer · 2022-10-13 02:51:25Z

1

Vyxal, 2 bytes

ÞG

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answered Oct 13, 2022 at 2:51

DialFrost

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The Thonnu · Accepted Answer · 2023-06-16 17:13:18Z

1

Thunno 2, 2 bytes

ØG

Attempt This Online!

Built-in.

answered Jun 16, 2023 at 17:13

The Thonnu

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chunes · Accepted Answer · 2024-08-17 11:50:39Z

1

Uiua, 6 bytes

⊡⊢⍖⍚⧻.

Try it!

⊡⊢⍖⍚⧻.
     .  # duplicate
   ⍚⧻   # lengths
 ⊢⍖     # index of maximum
⊡       # pick

edited Aug 17 at 11:50

answered Nov 17, 2023 at 22:22

chunes

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roblogic · Accepted Answer · 2024-08-28 14:56:02Z

1

Zsh, ₂₈ 26 bytes

for i;<<<$i>$i;ls -S|sed q

Try it online! _28b

Write each argument (<<<$i) to a file also named (>$i). List directory (ls -S) sorted by size. Take the top result.

A direct port of the bash solution is 29 bytes:

for b;(($#b>$#a))&&a=$b;<<<$a

edited Aug 28 at 14:56

answered Aug 17 at 11:32

roblogic

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ATaco · Accepted Answer · 2024-09-02 05:55:08Z

ARBLE, 33 bytes

a/select(1+lt(len(b),len(c)),b,c)

a/select(1+lt(len(b),len(c)),b,c)
a/                                -- Fold the first input over the given function
  select(1+                 ,b,c) -- If the condition is 1, return the second argument. Otherwise, return the first.
           lt(len(b),len(c))      -- Is the length of the first argument less than the length of the second

Try it online!

Actually surprised how hard this was for ARBLE, as it doesn't have a maxby or sort function.

xrs · Accepted Answer · 2024-11-12 19:03:09Z

1

AWK, `-F '' -vRS=" "` 34 bytes

{NF-1>length(x)&&x=$0}END{print x}

To test:

awk -F "" -vRS=" " '{NF-1>length(x)&&x=$0}END{print x}' <<< "tiny small bigger biggest"

{NF-1>         # length of current word
length(x)      # length of longest
&&x=$0}        # set longest
END{print x}   # print when done

answered Nov 12 at 19:03

xrs

5894 bronze badges

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LegionMammal978 · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-20 19:03:40Z

0

Mathematica, 29 bytes

#&@@#~MaximalBy~StringLength&

Pure function. Takes a list of strings as input and returns a string as output. #~MaximalBy~StringLength finds the longest strings in the list and #&@@ selects the first instance.

answered Dec 20, 2017 at 19:03

LegionMammal978

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\$\begingroup\$ I've been trying to find an improvement on StringLength, which is pretty long. Sadly ByteCount doesn't grow one-to-one with the length of the string. Is there anything clever in this area? \$\endgroup\$
– Patrick Stevens
Commented Dec 21, 2017 at 8:56

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Håvard Nygård · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-20 20:48:48Z

0

Rust, 73 bytes

|mut x:Vec<String>|{x.sort_by(|a,b|b.len().cmp(&a.len()));x[0].clone()}

Very simple code, that can probably be golfed at least a little more. The fact that i had to use String instead of &str, just for the return value, bugs me alot. (I could have used a .to_string() method, but that wouldve added 2 bytes.)

Try it online!

answered Dec 20, 2017 at 20:48

Håvard Nygård

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Community · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-17 09:04:33Z

0

MY, 24 bytes

1ω74ǵ'ƒ⇹(ω74ǵ'ƒ⇹(⍐=⍸@ω@←

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How?

1ω74ǵ'ƒ⇹(ω74ǵ'ƒ⇹(⍐=⍸@ω@←
                       ← = Output ...
                      ω  = ... the input ...
                       @ = ... at ...
1                    @   = ... the first ...
                   ⍸     = ... truthy index of ...
 ω74ǵ'ƒ⇹(                = ... the length of each element of the input's ...
                  =      = ... equality with ...
         ω74ǵ'ƒ⇹(⍐       = ... the maximum length.

edited Jun 17, 2020 at 9:04

CommunityBot

1

answered Dec 20, 2017 at 22:23

Adalynn

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ChristophE · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-21 09:01:19Z

0

Java 8, 57 bytes (70 bytes)

By the power of streams, my java answer shall be the shortest

Arrays.stream(a).max(Comparator.comparing(String::length))

Honestly I don't know if I cheated with that answer because I don't return anything but you could use that line of code. If we really want to return stuff then it's a bit longer.

Thanks to LukeStevens for pointing out to use lambdas to be more golfy.

w->Arrays.stream(w).max(Comparator.comparing(String::length)‌).get()

edited Dec 21, 2017 at 9:01

answered Dec 21, 2017 at 6:54

ChristophE

1012 bronze badges

\$\begingroup\$ Welcome to PPCG! An answer needs to be either a program or a function, a snippet of code is not enough. Also, input needs to be taken in some allowed way. Assuming that the input is stored in a predetermined variable is not allowed. You can take input for example from STDIN or as an argument to a function. \$\endgroup\$
– Steadybox
Commented Dec 21, 2017 at 7:32
\$\begingroup\$ Hi @Steadybox I changed my program to a function(method). Is it ok now? \$\endgroup\$
– ChristophE
Commented Dec 21, 2017 at 7:42
\$\begingroup\$ @ChristophE Unfortunately you need to include the byte cost of imports aswell :( which would add another 19 bytes to this, otherwise it's a really good solution! You should also have a look at using lamdbas which would reduce the code to w->Arrays.stream(w).max(Comparator.comparing(String::length)).get() \$\endgroup\$
– Lucy Stevens
Commented Dec 21, 2017 at 8:31
\$\begingroup\$ I think I don't understand completely, my code already uses lambdas :D but just the lambda expression counts as 'function' in codegolf? thats good to know then I'll change my answer \$\endgroup\$
– ChristophE
Commented Dec 21, 2017 at 8:58
2

\$\begingroup\$ By the power of streams, my Java answer shall be the shortest: s->s.max((a,b)->a.length()-b.length()).get() (44 bytes). \$\endgroup\$
– Olivier Grégoire
Commented Dec 21, 2017 at 9:35

| Show 2 more comments

Aaron M. Eshbach · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-22 16:22:25Z

0

F# (.NET Core), 29 bytes

 Seq.maxBy <| fun s->s.Length

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Explanation

Through partial application of Seq.maxBy, returns a function (string seq -> string)

answered Dec 22, 2017 at 16:22

Aaron M. Eshbach

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Conor O'Brien · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-22 23:25:25Z

0

Stacked, 19 bytes

[:$#'"!:MAX index#]

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Explanation

[:$#'"!:MAX index#]
[                 ]   anonymous function, takes input as list of strings
 :$  "!               on each member:
   #'                   get the length
            index     get the index of...
       :MAX             the maximum length
                 #    and obtain the respective member in the array.

Alternatives

19 bytes: [[#'\#'-]sortby 0#]

24 bytes: [$#'"!:sorted index#_1#]

answered Dec 22, 2017 at 23:25

Conor O'Brien

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Renzo · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-23 19:15:15Z

0

Common Lisp, 32 bytes

(elt(sort(read)'> :key'length)0)

Try it online!

answered Dec 23, 2017 at 19:15

Renzo

2,60814 silver badges22 bronze badges

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ბიმო · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-23 22:48:06Z

0

Husk, 3 bytes

►L↔

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Explanation

  ↔  -- reverse the list (such that the first gets picked in case of a tie)
►L   -- find maximum by length

edited Dec 23, 2017 at 22:48

answered Dec 23, 2017 at 22:40

ბიმო

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MustacheMoses · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-24 05:11:53Z

0

Scratch 2.0, 22 blocks

Accepts input by pressing see inside on the project page and manually adding and removing items from list.

Project here. Flash required to run and view, apologies.

All blocks were counted including nested ones. Not sure how I'd count bytes with this language unless you want the length of the JSON.

answered Dec 24, 2017 at 5:11

MustacheMoses

1315 bronze badges

\$\begingroup\$ You might want to check out this question on meta. \$\endgroup\$
– Timtech
Commented Dec 24, 2017 at 6:25
\$\begingroup\$ @Timtech thanks a ton! Didn't even know scoring existed for Scratch. :P Probably should have done it in a "real" language. \$\endgroup\$
– MustacheMoses
Commented Dec 24, 2017 at 20:52

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Find the longest word in an array

70 Answers 70

Bash, 44 bytes

dc, 39 38 36 bytes

UiuaSBCS, 9 7 bytes

Explanation

APL+WIN, 11 bytes

Perl 5, 38 bytes

C++, 125 bytes

Demo

Jelly, 4 bytes

Jelly, 4 bytes

Javascript ES5, 41 bytes

Coconut, 15 13 bytes

Add++, 7 bytes

How they work

Attache, 9 bytes

jq -r, 19 15 bytes

Kotlin, 21 bytes

Tcl, 93 bytes

Lua, 70 64 bytes

Vyxal, 2 bytes

Thunno 2, 2 bytes

Uiua, 6 bytes

Zsh, 28 26 bytes

ARBLE, 33 bytes

AWK, -F '' -vRS=" " 34 bytes

Mathematica, 29 bytes

Rust, 73 bytes

MY, 24 bytes

How?

Java 8, 57 bytes (70 bytes)

F# (.NET Core), 29 bytes

Explanation

Stacked, 19 bytes

Explanation

Alternatives

Common Lisp, 32 bytes

Husk, 3 bytes

Explanation

Scratch 2.0, 22 blocks

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Zsh, ₂₈ 26 bytes

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