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up vote 35 down vote favorite
2

Write a single line program two or more characters long that contains no line terminators and takes no input. For example, your program might be:

MyProgram

When your program is arranged into the shapes a clock's hands make at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock, it needs to output the corresponding hour number. No other times need be supported.

Specifically:

  • When your program is arranged like clock hands at 12 o'clock (🕛)

    m
a
r
g
o
r
P
y
M

    running it should output 12.

  • When your program is arranged like clock hands at 3 o'clock (🕒)

    m
a
r
g
o
r
P
y
MyProgram

    running it should output 3.

  • When your program is arranged like clock hands at 6 o'clock (🕕)

    m
a
r
g
o
r
P
y
M
y
P
r
o
g
r
a
m

    running it should output 6.

  • When your program is arranged like clock hands at 9 o'clock (🕘)

    ........m
........a
........r
........g
........o
........r
........P
........y
margorPyM

    running it should output 9.

Notes

  • The first character in your program is always placed at the center of the clock. (Note how there is only one M in the 6 o'clock example.)

  • Any one non-newline character may be used to indent the program for the 9 o'clock arrangement. In the examples . is used, but space or / or # would be just as valid.

  • For the 3 o'clock arrangement, no characters should be in the empty upper right region. (i.e. keep it empty, don't fill it with spaces.)

  • The initial program arrangement (MyProgram as is) does not need to do anything. Only the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock arrangements need to have correct, well-defined output.

  • Code that only works as a function or REPL command is not allowed. Each of the four arrangements should be ready to run as full programs as is.

The shortest program in bytes wins. e.g. MyProgram has a length of 9 bytes.

share|improve this question
20  
I have no idea how to even begin doing this – QPaysTaxes yesterday
1  
Is it OK if a character is printed and then erased with backspace? – feersum yesterday
5  
Here's a CJam script to generate all four codes from a single line and a padding character: cjam.tryitonline.net/… Feel free to include it in the post. – Martin Büttner♦ yesterday
2  
I was gonna attempt this in Brainfuck, but it turns out the challenge fucked my brain before BF could. – cat 18 hours ago
1  
@cat I believe that's impossible because programs 3 and 6 would be indistinguishable to Brainfuck as they only differ in whitespace. – Martin Büttner♦ 18 hours ago
up vote 32 down vote

GolfScript, 11 10 bytes

21;;3#9];6

Uses # as padding character.

12 o'clock

6
;
]
9
#
3
;
;
1
2

Try it online!

How it works.

  • 6 is pushed on the stack, ; discards it.

  • ] wraps the stack in an array (does not affect output).

  • 9 and 3 are pushed on the stack, ; and ; discard them.

  • Finally, 1 and 2 are pushed on the stack, and implicitly printed without separation.

3 o'clock

6
;
]
9
#
3
;
;
1
21;;3#9];6

Try it online!

How it works

  • 6 is pushed on the stack, ; discards it.

  • ] wraps the stack in an array (does not affect output).

  • 9 and 3 are pushed on the stack, ; and ; discard them.

  • 1 and 21 are pushed on the stack, ;; discards them.

  • 3 is pushed on the stack.

  • # begins a comment until the end of the line.

6 o'clock

6
;
]
9
#
3
;
;
1
2
1
;
;
3
#
9
]
;
6

Try it online!

How it works

  • 6 is pushed on the stack, ; discards it.

  • ] wraps the stack in an array (does not affect output).

  • 9 and 3 are pushed on the stack, ; and ; discard them.

  • 1, 2 and 1 are pushed on the stack.

  • ; and ; discard the last 1 and 2.

  • 3 and 9 are pushed on the stack.

  • ] and ; wrap the stack in an array and discard it, clearing the stack.

  • 6 is pushed on the stack.

9 o'clock

#########6
#########;
#########]
#########9
##########
#########3
#########;
#########;
#########1
6;]9#3;;12

Try it online!

How it works

  • All lines but the last are comments.

  • 6 is pushed on the stack, ; discards it.

  • ] wraps the stack in an array (does not affect output).

  • 9 is pushed on the stack.

  • # begins a comment until the end of the line.

share|improve this answer
up vote 23 down vote

><>, 20 bytes

X   n-+g+aa0g+9a2c!v

There's unprintables in there, namely:

  • After the X is \x06\t
  • After the c is \x03

The same part of source code is run each time, using g on two parts of the source code to determine what to subtract from 12.

v                         Make IP move downwards
 !\x03                    Jump over the \x03
      c                   Push 12
       2a9+g              Get the char at position (2, 19), i.e. the \t for
                          3 o'clock, the \x03 for 9 o'clock, 0 otherwise
            0aa+g         Get the char at position (0, 20), i.e. first char on
                          the line after the X, \x06 for 6 o'clock
                 +        Add
                  -       Subtract from the 12
                   n      Output as number
                    \t    Unrecognised instruction - errors out

12 o'clock | 3 o'clock | 6 o'clock | 9 o'clock (looks misaligned due to the tab)

share|improve this answer
4  
"12 votes 0 answers? Wait until Sp proves it's trivial please." –Helka, in chat – Alex A.♦ yesterday

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