# Find the largest N digit number in a W by H grid of digits

Write a program or function that takes in a positive integer $$\N\$$ and a grid of decimal digits ($$\0\$$ to $$\9\$$) with width $$\W\$$ and height $$\H\$$ (which are also positive integers). You can assume that $$\N\$$ will be less than or equal to the larger of $$\W\$$ and $$\H\$$ ($$\N \le \max(W,H)\$$).

Print or return the largest contiguous $$\N\$$-digit number that appears horizontally or vertically in the grid, written in normal reading order or in reverse.

• Diagonal lines of digits are not considered.
• The grid does not wrap around, i.e. it does not have periodic boundary conditions.

For example, the $$\3\times3\$$ grid

928
313
049


would have 9 as the output for $$\N = 1\$$, 94 as the output for $$\N = 2\$$, and 940 as the output for $$\N = 3\$$.

The $$\4\times3\$$ grid

7423
1531
6810


would have 8 as the output for $$\N = 1\$$, 86 for $$\N = 2\$$, 854 for $$\N = 3\$$, and 7423 for $$\N = 4\$$.

The $$\3\times3\$$ grid

000
010
000


would have output 1 for $$\N = 1\$$, and 10 for N = 2 and N = 3 (010 is also valid for N = 3).

The $$\1\times1\$$ grid

0


would have output 0 for $$\N = 1\$$.

You can take the input in any convenient reasonable format. e.g. the grid could be a newline separated string of digits, or a multidimensional array, or a list of lists of digits, etc. Leading zeros are allowed in the output if they were part of the grid.

This is , so the shortest code in bytes wins, but I'll also award brownie points (i.e. more likely upvotes) for answers that can show that their algorithm is computationally efficient.

• Are we allowed to print any leading zeroes? – PurkkaKoodari Nov 6 '15 at 7:22
• @Pietu1998 "Leading zeros are allowed in the output if they were part of the grid." – Calvin's Hobbies Nov 6 '15 at 15:12

# Pyth, 22 19 bytes

3 bytes thanks to Jakube.

seSs.:RQ.n,L_MdCB.z


Try it online.

If we are allowed to print leading zeroes, the code is 18 bytes:

eSs.:RQ.n,L_MdCB.z

• Converting a string with leading zeros to an integer can be accomplished with s. – Jakube Nov 7 '15 at 14:15

## CJam, 393635 34 bytes

qN/)i\[{zW%_}4*]ff{_,@e<ew:i}e_:e>


Just quickly, before @Dennis wakes up :P

### Explanation

The basic algorithm is to take all four rotations of the grid and split each row into chunks of length N (or the row length, whichever's smaller). Then convert the chunks to ints and take the largest.

qN/             Split input by newlines, giving an array of lines
)i\             Drop N from the array and put at bottom
[        ]      Wrap in array...
{    }4*         Perform 4 times...
zW%_              Rotate grid anticlockwise and push a copy
Note that this gives an array of 5 grids [CCW1 CCW2 CCW3 CCW4 CCW4]
ff{         }   For each grid row, mapping with N as an extra parameter...
_,             Push length of row
@e<          Take min with N
ew        Split into chunks
:i      Convert to ints
e_              Flatten that array
:e>             Take cumulative max

• Out of curiosity, does few do anything special, or is it three separate commands? – ETHproductions Nov 6 '15 at 4:37
• @ETHproductions It's actually the operator ew applied using f, or "map with extra parameter". For example, ["abcd" "efgh"] 2 few results in [["ab" "bc" "cd"] ["ef" "fg" "gh"]]. – Sp3000 Nov 6 '15 at 4:39
• Gotcha :) That's an interesting coincidence, though. – ETHproductions Nov 6 '15 at 4:54
• Only issue is that, when @Dennis wakes up, everybody else loses anyway. ;) – kirbyfan64sos Nov 6 '15 at 13:35

# Jelly, 12 bytes

ZU$4Ð¡Ẏṡ€ḌFṀ  Try it online! This takes the grid as an $$\W\times H\$$ matrix of single digits. The TIO Footer simply takes each input list and generates the outputs for each $$\N = 1, 2, ...\$$ up to either $$\W\$$ or $$\H\$$, depending on which is larger ## How it works ZU$4Ð¡Ẏṡ€ḌFṀ - Main link. Takes the matrix M on the left and N on the right
\$          - Group the previous 2 links together as a monad f(M):
Z            -   Transpose
U           -   Reverse
4Ð¡       - 4 times, run f(M) on M, updating M each time, and return all 4 results
This yields M, Mᵀ with rows reversed, Mᵀ and M with rows reversed
Ẏ      - Tighten into a list of lists
€    - Over each:
ṡ     -   Yield all overlapping sublists of length N
Ḍ   - Convert back to integers
F  - Flatten
Ṁ - Maximum


# 05AB1E, 13 bytes

DÅ|«€ÂJ€Œ˜sùà


Try it online! Explanation:

D                 # duplicate matrix
Å|               # get column vectors
«              # join matrix with its column vectors
€Â            # append reversed elements
J           # join arrays into numbers
€Œ˜        # Get all substrings
sù      # Keep only those of required length
à     # Get the largest value


# Husk, 13 bytes

▲ṁX⁰Σ↑4¡om↔T²


Try it online!

The arguments are a bit finicky here.

# Japt-h, 13 12 bytes

Takes the matrix as an array of lines. Includes leading 0s in the output, where applicable.

4Æ=z)mãVÃc ñ


Try it

4Æ=z)mãVÃc ñ    :Implicit input of array U & integer V
4Æ              :Map the range [0,4)
=             :  Reassign to U
z            :  Rotate 90° clockwise
)           :  End reassignment
m          :  Map
ãV        :    Substrings of length V
Ã       :End map
c      :Flatten
ñ    :Sort
:Implicit output of last element