Score a word by letter positions
A word game scores each letter by its position in the alphabet: a is 1, b is 2, and so on up to z is 26.
- Each lowercase letter a-z adds its position (a=1, b=2, ..., z=26).
- Characters that are not lowercase letters are ignored.
- An empty string scores zero.
wordScore(word: string) → int
Java needs a compiler and Drill does not host one yet, so this page is the reference rather than an exercise: the problem, worked examples, and the solution in full. To type it out, the same problem runs in Python.
Where you start
int wordScore(String word) {
}Worked examples
| Call | Result |
|---|---|
wordScore("abc") | 6 |
wordScore("hello") | 52 |
wordScore("") | 0 |
wordScore("a") | 1 |
Hint
Subtract the character code of a from each letter to get its value.
Reference solution in Java
int wordScore(String word) {
int sum = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < word.length(); i++) {
char c = word.charAt(i);
if (c >= 'a' && c <= 'z') sum += c - 'a' + 1;
}
return sum;
}