/** * The Sudoku class povides a static main * method allowing it to be called from the command line to print the * solution to a specified Sudoku problem. * *

The following is an example of a Sudoku problem: * *

 * -----------------------
 * |   8   | 4   2 |   6   |
 * |   3 4 |       | 9 1   |
 * | 9 6   |       |   8 4 |
 *  -----------------------
 * |       | 2 1 6 |       |
 * |       |       |       |
 * |       | 3 5 7 |       |
 *  -----------------------
 * | 8 4   |       |   7 5 |
 * |   2 6 |       | 1 3   |
 * |   9   | 7   1 |   4   |
 *  -----------------------
 * 
* * The goal is to fill in the missing numbers so that * every row, column and box contains each of the numbers * 1-9. Here is the solution to the * problem above: * *
 *  -----------------------
 * | 1 8 7 | 4 9 2 | 5 6 3 |
 * | 5 3 4 | 6 7 8 | 9 1 2 |
 * | 9 6 2 | 1 3 5 | 7 8 4 |
 *  -----------------------
 * | 4 5 8 | 2 1 6 | 3 9 7 |
 * | 2 7 3 | 8 4 9 | 6 5 1 |
 * | 6 1 9 | 3 5 7 | 4 2 8 |
 *  -----------------------
 * | 8 4 1 | 9 6 3 | 2 7 5 |
 * | 7 2 6 | 5 8 4 | 1 3 9 |
 * | 3 9 5 | 7 2 1 | 8 4 6 |
 *  -----------------------
 * 
* * Note that the first row 187492563 contains * each number exactly once, as does the first column * 159426873, the upper-left box * 187534962, and every other row, column * and box. * *

The {@link #main(String[])} method encodes a problem as an array * of strings, with one string encoding each constraint in the problem * in row-column-value format. Here is the problem again with * the indices indicated: * *

 *     0 1 2   3 4 5   6 7 8
 *    -----------------------
 * 0 |   8   | 4   2 |   6   |
 * 1 |   3 4 |       | 9 1   |
 * 2 | 9 6   |       |   8 4 |
 *    -----------------------
 * 3 |       | 2 1 6 |       |
 * 4 |       |       |       |
 * 5 |       | 3 5 7 |       |
 *   -----------------------
 * 6 | 8 4   |       |   7 5 |
 * 7 |   2 6 |       | 1 3   |
 * 8 |   9   | 7   1 |   4   |
 *    -----------------------
 * 
* * The 8 in the upper left box of the puzzle is encoded * as 018 (0 for the row, 1 for * the column, and 8 for the value). The 4 * in the lower right box is encoded as 874. * *

The full command-line invocation for the above puzzle is: * *

 * % java -cp . Sudoku 018 034 052 076 \
 *                     113 124 169 171 \
 *                     209 216 278 284 \
 *                     332 341 356     \
 *                     533 545 557     \
 *                     608 614 677 685 \
 *                     712 726 761 773 \
 *                     819 837 851 874 \
 * 
* *

See Wikipedia: * Sudoku for more information on Sudoku. * *

The algorithm employed is similar to the standard backtracking * eight * queens algorithm. * * @version 1.0 * @author Bob Carpenter */ public class Sudoku { /** * Print the specified Sudoku problem and its solution. The * problem is encoded as specified in the class documentation * above. * * @param args The command-line arguments encoding the problem. */ public static void main(String[] args) { int[][] matrix = parseProblem(args); writeMatrix(matrix); if (solve(0,0,matrix)) // solves in place writeMatrix(matrix); else System.out.println("NONE"); } static boolean solve(int i, int j, int[][] cells) { if (i == 9) { i = 0; if (++j == 9) return true; } if (cells[i][j] != 0) // skip filled cells return solve(i+1,j,cells); for (int val = 1; val <= 9; ++val) { if (legal(i,j,val,cells)) { cells[i][j] = val; if (solve(i+1,j,cells)) return true; } } cells[i][j] = 0; // reset on backtrack return false; } static boolean legal(int i, int j, int val, int[][] cells) { for (int k = 0; k < 9; ++k) // row if (val == cells[k][j]) return false; for (int k = 0; k < 9; ++k) // col if (val == cells[i][k]) return false; int boxRowOffset = (i / 3)*3; int boxColOffset = (j / 3)*3; for (int k = 0; k < 3; ++k) // box for (int m = 0; m < 3; ++m) if (val == cells[boxRowOffset+k][boxColOffset+m]) return false; return true; // no violations, so it's legal } static int[][] parseProblem(String[] args) { int[][] problem = new int[9][9]; // default 0 vals for (int n = 0; n < args.length; ++n) { int i = Integer.parseInt(args[n].substring(0,1)); int j = Integer.parseInt(args[n].substring(1,2)); int val = Integer.parseInt(args[n].substring(2,3)); problem[i][j] = val; } return problem; } static void writeMatrix(int[][] solution) { for (int i = 0; i < 9; ++i) { if (i % 3 == 0) System.out.println(" -----------------------"); for (int j = 0; j < 9; ++j) { if (j % 3 == 0) System.out.print("| "); System.out.print(solution[i][j] == 0 ? " " : Integer.toString(solution[i][j])); System.out.print(' '); } System.out.println("|"); } System.out.println(" -----------------------"); } }