Spelling Bee solver

spellingbee.py

import argparse
from math import ceil
from more_itertools import powerset
from ordered_set import OrderedSet

"""
$ pip install more_itertools ordered_set

$ python spellingbee.py RACFKOT -h
usage: spellingbee.py [-h] [--words WORDS] CHARACTERS

Look for solutions for Spelling Bee (https://www.nytimes.com/puzzles/spelling-bee)

positional arguments:
  CHARACTERS     7 letters, required letter first, i.e. LWDATOF

optional arguments:
  -h, --help     show this help message and exit
  --words WORDS  Path to a file containing words, default is /usr/share/dict/words


$ python spellingbee.py RACFKOT
AFAR           KROC           TART           CROCK          CARROT         
AFRO           OKRA           TORT           CROOK          FACTOR         
CARA           OORT           TROT           FRACK          KARROO         
CARR           RACK           ACCRA          FROCK          ORATOR         
CART           RAFT           ACTOR          KARAT          ROCOCO         
CORA           ROAR           AORTA          KRAFT          TARTAR         
CORK           ROCK           ATTAR          ROCCO          TARTAR         
FART           ROCK           CARAT          ROTOR          ATTRACT        
FORA           ROOF           COROT          TAROT          TRACTOR        
FORK           ROOK           CRACK          TATAR          CATARACT       
FORT           ROOT           CRAFT          TRACK          KRAKATOA       
FRAT           ROOT           CRAFT          TRACT          
KARA           TARA           CROAK          ARAFAT         
KARO           TARO           CROAT          ARARAT         
"""


# turn a list into a list of n lists (useful for printing columns)
def chunkdiv(l, n):
    for i in range(0, n):
        yield l[i::n]


# use powerset to make permutations of a list, keeping things in alph
# order
def get_powerset(l):
    chars = list(l)
    first_char = chars[0]
    chars.sort()
    fset = OrderedSet(["".join(x) for x in powerset(chars)])
    return fset, first_char


# transform all the words in the dictionary so that "DOGGIES" becomes
# "DEIGS" and then check if that's in the powerset from get_powerset()


def check_words(chars=None, words_file=None):
    the_words = []
    ps, first_char = get_powerset(chars)
    with open(words_file) as words_file_handle:
        words = list(words_file_handle)
        for word in words:
            uppered = word.upper()
            trimmed = uppered.rstrip()
            filtered = [x for x in list(trimmed) if x.isalnum()]
            filtered.sort()
            setted = OrderedSet(filtered)
            key = "".join(setted)

            if key in ps and len(trimmed) > 3 and first_char in setted:
                the_words.append(trimmed)

        # sort normally...
        the_words.sort()

        # ...then by length of word
        lengthed_words = sorted(the_words, key=len)

        # figure out how many rows we need (we want 5 columns)
        rows = ceil(len(lengthed_words) / 5)

        chunked_words = chunkdiv(lengthed_words, rows)

        return chunked_words


def __main__():
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
        description="Look for solutions for Spelling Bee (https://www.nytimes.com/puzzles/spelling-bee)"
    )
    parser.add_argument(
        "txt",
        metavar="CHARACTERS",
        type=str,
        help="7 letters, required letter first, i.e. LWDATOF",
    )
    parser.add_argument(
        "--words",
        type=str,
        help="Path to a file containing words, default is /usr/share/dict/words",
        default="/usr/share/dict/words",
    )
    args = parser.parse_args()

    words = check_words(chars=args.txt, words_file=args.words)

    for l in words:
        fmted = ["{:15}".format(w) for w in l]
        print("".join(fmted))


if __name__ == "__main__":
    __main__()