Question

This code can find a word if it goes from LEFT to RIGHT, how can I change it to find a word from Right to left and from top to bottom?

boolean findWE(String word) {
  for (int r = 0; r < height; r++) {
    for (int c = 0; c <= width - word.length(); c++) {
      if (word.charAt(0) == grid[r][c]) {
        boolean failed = false;
        for (int i = 0; i < word.length() && !failed; i++) {
          if (word.charAt(i) != grid[r][c + i]) {
            failed = true;
          }
        }
        if (!failed) {
          System.out.printf("%s found WE at(%d,%d)\n", word, r, c);
          return true;
        }
      }
    }
  }
  return false;
}

Answer 1

Since this isn’t homework, you should just be able to use the library functions to reverse a String:

boolean findEW(String word) {
  StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();

  // Why are your strings stored as a 2-dimensional character array??
  for(int r = 0; r < height; r++) {
    builder.append(grid[r]);
    builder.append("\n");
  }

  builder.reverse();
  return builder.toString().contains(word);
}

Or, since finding “abc” in the “edcba” backwards is the same as finding “cba” in “edcba” forwards, you can do the following:

boolean findEW(String word) {
  return findWE(new StringBuilder(word).reverse());
}