Python Dictionary to find mirror characters in a string (original) (raw)
Last Updated : 30 Oct, 2025
Given a string and a number N, we need to mirror the characters from the N-th position to the end of the string in alphabetical order. In a mirror operation:
- 'a' becomes 'z'
- 'b' becomes 'y'
- 'c' becomes 'x', and so on.
**Examples:
Input: N = 3, word = paradoxOutput: paizwlc
Explanation: We mirror characters from position 3 to end.
We can solve this problem in Python using the Dictionary data structure. Below are the steps:
- The mirror value of 'a' is 'z', 'b' is 'y', etc.
- Create a dictionary mapping each character to its mirror value.
- Traverse characters from position N to the end of the string and replace them using the dictionary.
- Concatenate the unchanged prefix (first N-1 characters) with the mirrored part.
Implementation:
Python `
def mirrorChars(input,k):
original = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'
reverse = 'zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba'
dictChars = dict(zip(original,reverse))
prefix = input[0:k-1]
suffix = input[k-1:]
mirror = ''
for i in range(0,len(suffix)):
mirror = mirror + dictChars[suffix[i]]
print (prefix+mirror)
if name == "main": input = 'paradox' k = 3 mirrorChars(input,k)
`
**Explanation:
- **dict(zip(original, reverse)): creates a dictionary mapping each letter to its mirror.
- **prefix = input[0:k-1]: first k-1 characters, unchanged.
- **suffix = input[k-1:]: characters from position k onward, to be mirrored.
- **input[0:k-1]: first k-1 characters, unchanged.
- **input[k-1:]: characters from position k onward, to be mirrored.