import os with open(r'advent_of_code\2023\08\input.txt', 'r') as file: input = file.read() #print(input) # test_input = '''RL # AAA = (BBB, CCC) # BBB = (DDD, EEE) # CCC = (ZZZ, GGG) # DDD = (DDD, DDD) # EEE = (EEE, EEE) # GGG = (GGG, GGG) # ZZZ = (ZZZ, ZZZ)''' test_input = '''LLR AAA = (BBB, BBB) BBB = (AAA, ZZZ) ZZZ = (ZZZ, ZZZ)''' input = input.split('\n') top_line = input[0] #print(top_line) # change L to 0 and R to 1 and split into list top_line = list(top_line) top_line = [s.replace('L', '0').replace('R', '1') for s in top_line] #print(top_line) # create a dictionary of instructions, where is the key is a range of numbers and the value is a number from the top line instructions = {} for i in range(0, len(top_line)): instructions[i] = top_line[i] #print(instructions) # now we need to take the rest of the input and and split it into a dictionary where the key is left of the = sign # and the value is a list of the right of the = sign split by commas and stripped of whitespace and brackets guide = input[1:] #print(guide) if guide[0] == '': guide.pop(0) for i in range(0, len(guide)): if '=' in guide[i]: guide[i] = guide[i].replace(' ', '').replace('(', '').replace(')', '').split('=') guide[i][1] = guide[i][1].split(',') guide[i][1] = [x.strip() for x in guide[i][1]] # now we need to create a dictionary where the key is the left of the = sign and the value is a list of the right of the = sign split by commas and stripped of whitespace and brackets guide_dict = {} for i in range(0, len(guide)): guide_dict[guide[i][0]] = guide[i][1] print(guide_dict) # starting at 'AAA' we need to follow the instructions to get to the bottom of the tree # we need to follow the instructions until we get to ZZZ # if we run out of instructions before we get to ZZZ then we need to repeat the instructions from where we are # Convert the dictionary to a list # Perform the operation current_node = 'AAA' step = 0 while current_node != 'ZZZ': print(current_node) # Use modulo to wrap step around if it's greater than the length of instructions choose_items = int(instructions[step % len(instructions)]) next_node = guide_dict[current_node][choose_items] current_node = next_node step += 1 print(f'finished in {step} steps, current node is {current_node}') print(current_node)