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The problem

For any given array, find a corresponding zig-zag array such the each element (a,b,c,d,e...) follows the rule:

a < b > c < d > e < f

In other words, every other element is greater than both of its neighbouring elements and the remaining elements are smaller than their neighbours.

For example, for the list:

[4, 3, 7, 8, 6, 2, 1]

the output is:

[1 8 2 7 3 6 4]

My solution

array = [4, 3, 7, 8, 6, 2, 1]
array.sort()

while len(array) > 1:
    print(array[0], array[-1], sep = " ", end= " ")
    array.pop(0)
    if array: array.pop(-1)
print(array[0])
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  • \$\begingroup\$ (Hint: There is a cleaner solution utilizing zip) \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jun 1, 2019 at 20:44
  • \$\begingroup\$ I'm not sure if you sure my update as I just changed it... \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jun 1, 2019 at 20:45
  • \$\begingroup\$ Actually on second thoughts, I'm wrong, but you're not supposed to update code. Updated code is supposed to be a new question as per the FAQ. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jun 1, 2019 at 20:50
  • \$\begingroup\$ Sorry. As no one had replied I thought it'd be ok. I think you replied as I updated it \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jun 1, 2019 at 20:53
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Dair You can edit code before answers have been posted. There are some edge cases, but I don't think they're relevant here. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jun 1, 2019 at 22:05

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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You can just use Python's slice notation. It allows you to pass steps, which allows you to do this with ease.

I also think it's fairly easy to understand.

def zigzag(values):
    half = len(values) // 2
    new = [None] * len(values)

    new[0::2] = values[:-half]
    new[1::2] = values[-half:][::-1]
    return new

>>> zigzag([1, 2, 3, 4])
[1, 4, 2, 3]
>>> zigzag([1, 2, 3, 4, 5])
[1, 5, 2, 4, 3]
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  • \$\begingroup\$ How come you have written [:-half]? What is with the minus sign? Thanks \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jun 1, 2019 at 21:41
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ I worked it out. I can see if I don't put the minus sign the sliced list is too short for lists of odd length if there is no minus sign \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jun 1, 2019 at 21:51
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @EML It's short hand for values[:len(values) - half]. values[-half:] takes the last half amount of items. values[:-half] takes the first len(values) - half items - which is 2 in the first example and 3 in the second. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jun 1, 2019 at 21:56

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