Word Search Puzzle Generator

Introduction

The mission of this package is to generate a word search puzzle. The requirements are a list of the word and the dimensions of the puzzle.

For example:

• Given list of words ['Cat', 'Bear', 'Tiger', 'Lion']
• Generated panel:

#   _________________________
#  | [L]   w    m    e   [r] |
#  | [i]   w   [C]  [e]   x  |
#  | [o]   v   [g]  [a]   q  |
#  | [n]  [i]   n    i   [t] |
#  | [T]  [B]  [e]  [a]  [r] |
#   -------------------------


panel.cells = {
    (0, 0): 'l', (0, 1): 'w', (0, 2): 'm', (0, 3): 'e', (0, 4): 'r', 
    (1, 0): 'i', (1, 1): 'w', (1, 2): 'c', (1, 3): 'e', (1, 4): 'x', 
    (2, 0): 'o', (2, 1): 'v', (2, 2): 'g', (2, 3): 'a', (2, 4): 'q', 
    (3, 0): 'n', (3, 1): 'i', (3, 2): 'n', (3, 3): 'i', (3, 4): 't', 
    (4, 0): 't', (4, 1): 'b', (4, 2): 'e', (4, 3): 'a', (4, 4): 'r', 
}

• With the corresponding hidden words:

{
    "words": [
        {
            "value": "cat",
            "positions": [
                { "r": 1, "c": 2 },
                { "r": 2, "c": 3 },
                { "r": 3, "c": 4 }
            ]
        },
        {
            "value": "bear",
            "positions": [
                { "r": 4, "c": 1 },
                { "r": 4, "c": 2 },
                { "r": 4, "c": 3 },
                { "r": 4, "c": 4 }
            ]
        },
        {
            "value": "tiger",
            "positions": [
                { "r": 4, "c": 0 },
                { "r": 3, "c": 1 },
                { "r": 2, "c": 2 },
                { "r": 1, "c": 3 },
                { "r": 0, "c": 4 }
            ]
        },
        {
            "value": "lion",
            "positions": [
                { "r": 0, "c": 0 },
                { "r": 1, "c": 0 },
                { "r": 2, "c": 0 },
                { "r": 3, "c": 0 }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

Install

You can install it using pip tool word-search-puzzle.

Generate a puzzle

All what you need is de define a list of words and provide the dimensions of the panel. Please make sure that the number and the length of the words fit the dimensions of the panel.

Example 1

Creating a simple puzzle.

from word_search_puzzle.utils import display_panel
from word_search_puzzle.algorithms import create_panel

words = ['Cat', 'Bear', 'Tiger', 'Lion']

result = create_panel(height=5, width=5, words_value_list=words)

print('Attempts: {}'.format(result.get('attempts')))
print('Solution took: {} ms'.format(result.get('elapsed_time')))
display_panel(result.get('panel'))

# Output:
#   Attempts: 2
#   Solution took: 31 ms
#
#   l  w  m  e  r
#   i  w  c  e  x
#   o  v  g  a  q
#   n  i  n  i  t
#   t  b  e  a  r

Example 2

Creating a serializable puzzle.

import json
from word_search_puzzle.algorithms import create_panel

words = ['Cat', 'Bear', 'Tiger', 'Lion']

result = create_panel(height=5, width=5, words_value_list=words, as_dict=True)

print(json.dumps(result))

The output will be as following:

{
  "panel": {
    "cells": [
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 0,
          "c": 0
        },
        "value": "t"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 0,
          "c": 1
        },
        "value": "b"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 0,
          "c": 2
        },
        "value": "x"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 0,
          "c": 3
        },
        "value": "j"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 0,
          "c": 4
        },
        "value": "c"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 1,
          "c": 0
        },
        "value": "l"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 1,
          "c": 1
        },
        "value": "i"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 1,
          "c": 2
        },
        "value": "e"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 1,
          "c": 3
        },
        "value": "b"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 1,
          "c": 4
        },
        "value": "a"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 2,
          "c": 0
        },
        "value": "c"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 2,
          "c": 1
        },
        "value": "i"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 2,
          "c": 2
        },
        "value": "g"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 2,
          "c": 3
        },
        "value": "a"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 2,
          "c": 4
        },
        "value": "t"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 3,
          "c": 0
        },
        "value": "d"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 3,
          "c": 1
        },
        "value": "l"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 3,
          "c": 2
        },
        "value": "o"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 3,
          "c": 3
        },
        "value": "e"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 3,
          "c": 4
        },
        "value": "r"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 4,
          "c": 0
        },
        "value": "f"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 4,
          "c": 1
        },
        "value": "i"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 4,
          "c": 2
        },
        "value": "i"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 4,
          "c": 3
        },
        "value": "n"
      },
      {
        "position": {
          "r": 4,
          "c": 4
        },
        "value": "r"
      }
    ]
  },
  "words": [
    {
      "value": "tiger",
      "positions": [
        {
          "r": 0,
          "c": 0
        },
        {
          "r": 1,
          "c": 1
        },
        {
          "r": 2,
          "c": 2
        },
        {
          "r": 3,
          "c": 3
        },
        {
          "r": 4,
          "c": 4
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "value": "lion",
      "positions": [
        {
          "r": 1,
          "c": 0
        },
        {
          "r": 2,
          "c": 1
        },
        {
          "r": 3,
          "c": 2
        },
        {
          "r": 4,
          "c": 3
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "value": "cat",
      "positions": [
        {
          "r": 0,
          "c": 4
        },
        {
          "r": 1,
          "c": 4
        },
        {
          "r": 2,
          "c": 4
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "value": "bear",
      "positions": [
        {
          "r": 0,
          "c": 1
        },
        {
          "r": 1,
          "c": 2
        },
        {
          "r": 2,
          "c": 3
        },
        {
          "r": 3,
          "c": 4
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "attempts": 1,
  "found": true,
  "elapsed_time": 3
}