Justify Frame Width in Python

When we have a list of words, we can frame them in a rectangular region with stars and proper spacing. This creates a visual frame around the text, line by line.

Problem Understanding

Given a list of words, we need to create a rectangular frame where each word is on its own line, padded with spaces to maintain uniform width, and surrounded by asterisks.

For example, if the input is ['hello', 'world', 'python', 'programming', 'nice'], the output will be ?

***************
* hello     *
* world     *
* python    *
* programming *
* nice      *
***************

Algorithm Steps

To solve this problem, we follow these steps ?

• Find the length of the longest word in the list
• Create the top border using stars (longest_length + 4 times)
• For each word, create a line with proper padding
• Add the bottom border using the same number of stars

Implementation

class Solution:
    def solve(self, words):
        # Find the length of the longest word
        max_length = max(len(word) for word in words)
        
        # Create top border
        border = '*' * (max_length + 4)
        result = border + '\n'
        
        # Add each word with proper spacing
        for word in words:
            spaces_needed = max_length - len(word) + 1
            line = '* ' + word + ' ' * spaces_needed + '*\n'
            result += line
        
        # Add bottom border
        result += border
        
        return result

# Test the solution
solution = Solution()
words = ['hello', 'world', 'python', 'programming', 'nice']
print(solution.solve(words))

***************
* hello     *
* world     *
* python    *
* programming *
* nice      *
***************

How It Works

The algorithm calculates the frame width based on the longest word. Each line follows the pattern: * word spaces * where the number of spaces ensures all lines have the same total width.

Alternative Implementation

Here's a more concise version using list comprehension ?

def justify_frame(words):
    max_len = max(len(word) for word in words)
    border = '*' * (max_len + 4)
    
    lines = [border]
    lines.extend(f"* {word}{' ' * (max_len - len(word) + 1)}*" for word in words)
    lines.append(border)
    
    return '\n'.join(lines)

# Test the function
words = ['hello', 'world', 'python', 'programming', 'nice']
print(justify_frame(words))

***************
* hello     *
* world     *
* python    *
* programming *
* nice      *
***************

Conclusion

This solution creates a justified frame by calculating the maximum word length and padding each line accordingly. The frame width is determined by the longest word plus 4 characters for borders and spacing.