Perl Card Trick

[Lysander]

Category:

Fun Stuff

Description:

This is a card trick that I remembered doing when I was a kid. The idea behind it is pretty simple, but it may stump some of you for a moment. ;) Cheers.

As always, comments on style, syntax etc. are appreciated.

Update: The code has been modified in response to Flexx's comments below.

Update: Thanks again to Flexx for his keen eyes. As a result, I realized that I was remembering the trick wrong and have now corrected it. Both the new and semi-original script are included.

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;

my ($column, $row, @cards2);

my @cards = (
    [
         ["2", chr(4)], ["A", chr(3)], ["5", chr(3)], ["10", chr(6)]
    ],
    [
        ["Q", chr(5)], ["3", chr(3)], ["A", chr(6)], ["7", chr(5)]
    ],
    [
        ["K", chr(5)], ["6", chr(4)], ["9", chr(6)], ["J", chr(6)]
    ],
    [
        ["8", chr(3)], ["Q", chr(4)], ["3", chr(4)], ["10", chr(5)]
    ]
);

print "\n\nPick a card from below.";
&display_cards;
while (1) {
    print "Which column is your card in? ";
    $column = <STDIN>;
    chomp($column);

    if ($column =~ m/[1-4]/) { last; }
    else { print "\nPlease pick a number between 1 and 4.\n"; }
}

my %map = (4=>1, 3=>2, 2=>3, 1=>4);

for (my $i = 0; $i <= $#cards; $i++) {
    for (my $j = 0; $j <= $#cards; $j++) {
        $cards2[$i][$j] = $cards[($map{($j+1)}-1)][$i];
    }
}

@cards = @cards2;
&display_cards;

while (1) {
    print "Which column is your card in now? ";
    $row = <STDIN>;
    chomp($row);

    if ($row =~ m/[1-4]/) { last; }
    else { print "\nPlease pick a number between 1 and 4.\n"; }
}

print "\n\nYour card is: $cards[$column-1][$row-1][0]$cards[$column-1]
+[$row-1][1]\n\n";

sub display_cards {

    my ($aref1, $aref2, $i);

    print "\n\n";
    print "\t[1]\t[2]\t[3]\t[4]\n\n";
    for $aref1 (@cards) {
        print "\t";
        for $aref2 (@$aref1) {
            print "@$aref2[0]@$aref2[1]\t";
        }
        print "\n";
    }
    print "\n\n";
}

__DATA__

Below is the semi-original script.

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;

my ($column, $row, @cards2);

my @cards = (
    [
         ["2", chr(4)], ["A", chr(3)], ["5", chr(3)], ["10", chr(6)]
    ],
    [
        ["Q", chr(5)], ["3", chr(3)], ["A", chr(6)], ["7", chr(5)]
    ],
    [
        ["K", chr(5)], ["6", chr(4)], ["9", chr(6)], ["J", chr(6)]
    ],
    [
        ["8", chr(3)], ["Q", chr(4)], ["3", chr(4)], ["10", chr(5)]
    ]
);

print "\n\nPick a card from below.";
&display_cards;
while (1) {
    print "Which column is your card in (1-4, left-to-right)?  ";
    $column = <STDIN>;
    chomp($column);

    if ($column =~ m/[1-4]/) { last; }
    else { print "\nPlease pick a number between 1 and 4.\n"; }
}

for (my $i = 0; $i <= $#cards; $i++) {
    for (my $j = 0; $j <= $#cards; $j++) {
        $cards2[$i][$j] = $cards[$j][$i];
        $cards2[$j][$i] = $cards[$i][$j];
    }
}
@cards = @cards2;
&display_cards;

while (1) {
    print "Which row is your card in (1-4, bottom-to-top)? ";
    $row = <STDIN>;
    chomp($row);

    if ($row =~ m/[1-4]/) { last; }
    else { print "\nPlease pick a number between 1 and 4.\n"; }
}

print "\n\nYour card is: $cards[$column-1][$row-1][0]$cards[$column-1]
+[$row-1][1]\n\n";

sub display_cards {

    my ($aref1, $aref2, $i);
    $i = 4;

    print "\n\n";
    print "\t[1]\t[2]\t[3]\t[4]\n\n";
    for $aref1 (@cards) {
        print "[$i]\t";
        for $aref2 (@$aref1) {
            print "@$aref2[0]@$aref2[1]\t";
            
        }
        $i -= 1;
        print "\n";
    }
    print "\n\n";
}

__DATA__