# Let's play ASCII mini-golf [closed]

Let's play code golf... by playing golf.

## Input

Your input will be a string consisting of #'s, an o, an @, and .'s. For example:

......@..
.....##..
.........
......o..


. - playable golf course (all shots must end on one of these)
# - a barrier (shots cannot go through this)
o - the starting position of your golf ball
@ - the hole

## How to Play ASCII Golf

You start at the o. Here is a valid shot from point A to point B:

1) This shot is straight line that can be drawn between A and B (no curved shots).

A....
....B


2) The line AB may not intersect with a # (barrier), e.g.:

A.#.B


It may, however, be tangent to a barrier:

A#
.B


3) (For clarity) You may not bounce shots off barriers or the edge of the golf course.

## Output

Print to stdout (or an acceptable equivalent) the minimum number of shots to get the ball into the hole @. If it is not possible, print -1.

## Examples

o....@


=> 1

o.#.@


=> -1

o..#
..#@


=> 2 (you can pass through the vertices of a #, but not the edges)

o#...#
.#.#.#
...#.@


=> 4

## closed as unclear what you're asking by Leaky Nun, Blue, Rɪᴋᴇʀ, NoOneIsHere, catMay 22 '16 at 0:44

Please clarify your specific problem or add additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it’s hard to tell exactly what you're asking. See the How to Ask page for help clarifying this question. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.

• Can’t your “6” example be done in 4 shots (south 1, southeast 1, northeast 2, southeast 2)? – Anders Kaseorg May 20 '16 at 3:51
• In the worst case you would need to write/golf a pathfinder algorithm like A* or something similar. Which may be quite difficult/challenging for some languages. – Rolf ツ May 20 '16 at 8:25
• @AndersKaseorg Good point, fixed. – AMACB May 20 '16 at 12:56
• What would ..@ \no#. mean? – Leaky Nun May 20 '16 at 13:07
• Can you do this in 1 shot? o### / #..# / ###@ (3 rows) – aditsu May 20 '16 at 17:52

# Python 2, 469

Pretty long, but it's a start:

R=range
def l(c,x,y,z,t):
f=abs(z-x);g=1-2*(z<x);p=abs(t-y);q=1-2*(t<y);v=r=0
for i in R(f):
w=f+(2*i+1)*p
for j in R(v,(w-1)/2/f+1):r|='.'>c[x+g*i][y+q*j]
v=w/2/f
for j in R(v,p+1):r|='.'>c[z][y+q*j]
return r
def f(c):
a="".join(c);n=len(c[0]);b=len(a);d=[[9**9*l(c,i/n,i%n,j/n,j%n)+1for i in R(b)]for j in R(b)]
for k in R(b):
for i in R(b):
for j in R(b):
t=d[i][j]=min(d[i][j],d[i][k]+d[k][j])
if"o@"==a[i]+a[j]:r=t
return-1if r>9**9else r


Function f takes a list of strings and returns the number of shots.

Test suite:

def test(s,r):
print"ok"if f(s.split())==r else"fail"

test("o # @", -1)
test("......@.. .....##.. ......... ......o..", 2)
test("o....@", 1)
test("o.#.@", -1)
test("o..# ..#@", 2)
test("o#...# .#.#.# ...#.@", 4)
test("o### #..# ###@", 3)
test("o.## ##.@", 1)
test("...o .@#.", 2)