Connecting input sentences with overlapping words

Question

The task is to connect the input sentences which are overlapping. My problem is how to remove the overlapping parts properly.

Input: first line is number of sentences to be connected. Next following lines are sentences. Output: connected sentence

Examples:

Input:

2
The harder you work for something, the
something, the greater you?ll feel when you achieve it.

Output:

The harder you work for something, the greater you?ll feel when you achieve it.

My code:

def connect(sentence1,sentence2):
  x= None
  y= None
  for i in range(len(sentence2)):
    if sentence2[:len(sentence2)-i] in sentence1 and len(sentence2[:len(sentence2)-i]) != 1:
        y =(sentence1+' '+sentence2[len(sentence2)-i:].strip())
        x =True
        break
  return x,y
n = int(input())
lst = []
for i in range(n):
  a = input()
  lst.append(a)
for i in lst:
  for j in lst:
    if i ==j:
        pass
    elif True in connect(i,j):
        lst.remove(i)
        lst.remove(j)
        lst.append(connect(i,j)[1])
print(lst[0])

Input 1:

3
The fool doth think he is wise,
wise man knows himself to be a fool.
wise, but the wise

Output 1: incorrect

The fool doth think he is wise, man knows himself to be a fool. but the wise

Expected output 1:

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.

Input 2:

7
afraid of greatness.
Be not afraid
some achieve greatness,
greatness thrust upon them.
greatness. Some
Some are born great, some
greatness, and others have greatness

Output 2: error

line 21, in 
    lst.remove(i)
ValueError: list.remove(x): x not in list

Expected output 2:

Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.

I put all input sentences in a list. I use remove() to replace two sentences in the list with a connected one and do the same thing again. — Patrick132, Jan 25 '21 at 19:46
So the sentences don't even necessarily appear in the same order in which they are given. This seems like a quite difficult task. — mkrieger1, Jan 25 '21 at 20:00

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 25 '21 at 20:42

You need to keep track of the length of the overlap (either end-start or start-end) in order to cut the appropriate number of characters from one of the parts that you concatenate:

sentences = """afraid of greatness.
Be not afraid
some achieve greatness,
greatness thrust upon them.
greatness. Some
Some are born great, some
greatness, and others have greatness""".split("\n")

result = sentences.pop(0) # start with any part, and take it out

while sentences:
    for s in list(sentences):
        atEnd   = next((p for p in range(1,len(s)) if result[-p:]==s[:p]),0)
        if atEnd:                        # length of overlapping end-start
            result = result + s[atEnd:]  # append to end, cut starting overlap
            sentences.remove(s)
            continue
        atStart = next((p for p in range(1,len(s)) if result[:p]==s[-p:]),0)
        if atStart:                      # length of overlapping start-end
            result = s[:-atStart]+result # insert at start, cut ending overlap
            sentences.remove(s)

print(result)

Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.

Thank you! Appreciate this. – Patrick132 Jan 25 '21 at 21:17 — Patrick132, Jan 25 '21 at 21:17

Connecting input sentences with overlapping words

1 Answers1