10/21/2019 Program for Tower of Hanoi - GeeksforGeeks

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Design a stack with


operations on middle
element

How to e ciently
implement k stacks in
a single array?

Iterative Tower of
Hanoi

Program for Tower of

Hanoi

Count the triplets

such that A[i] < B[j] <
C[k]

Complexity Analysis
of Binary Search

Maximum Sum
SubArray using Divide
and Conquer | Set 2

Find minimum steps

required to reach the
end of a matrix | Set -
1

Sum of maximum of
all subarrays | Divide
and Conquer

Kth smallest element

in the array using
constant space when
array can't be
modi ed

Find minimum steps

required to reach the
end of a matrix | Set 2

Cost Based Tower of

Hanoi

Cartesian tree from

inorder traversal |
Segment Tree
▲

Find the number of

different numbers in
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10/21/2019 Program for Tower of Hanoi - GeeksforGeeks

the array after

applying the given
operation q times

Modular
Exponentiation of
Complex Numbers

Find an N x N grid
whose xor of every
row and column is
equal

Signi cant Inversions

in an Array

Program for Tower of Hanoi

Tower of Hanoi is a mathematical puzzle where we have three rods and n disks. The objective of the puzzle is to move the entire
stack to another rod, obeying the following simple rules:
1) Only one disk can be moved at a time.
2) Each move consists of taking the upper disk from one of the stacks and placing it on top of another stack i.e. a disk can only be
moved if it is the uppermost disk on a stack.
3) No disk may be placed on top of a smaller disk.
▲

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10/21/2019 Program for Tower of Hanoi - GeeksforGeeks

Approach :

Take an example for 2 disks :

Let rod 1 = 'A', rod 2 = 'B', rod 3 = 'C'.

Step 1 : Shift first disk from 'A' to 'B'.

Step 2 : Shift second disk from 'A' to 'C'.
Step 3 : Shift first disk from 'B' to 'C'.

The pattern here is :

Shift 'n-1' disks from 'A' to 'B'.
Shift last disk from 'A' to 'C'.
Shift 'n-1' disks from 'B' to 'C'.

Image illustration for 3 disks :

Examples:

Input : 2
Output : Disk 1 moved from A to B
Disk 2 moved from A to C
Disk 1 moved from B to C

Input : 3
Output : Disk 1 moved from A to C
Disk 2 moved from A to B
Disk 1 moved from C to B
Disk 3 moved from A to C
Disk 1 moved from B to A
Disk 2 moved from B to C
Disk 1 moved from A to C

Recommended: Please solve it on “PRACTICE ” rst, before moving on to the solution.

C++


// C++ recursive function to ▲

// solve tower of hanoi puzzle
 #include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
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 void towerOfHanoi(int n, char from_rod,

char to_rod, char aux_rod)
 {
if (n == 1)
{
cout << "Move disk 1 from rod " << from_rod <<
" to rod " << to_rod<<endl;
return;
}
towerOfHanoi(n - 1, from_rod, aux_rod, to_rod);
cout << "Move disk " << n << " from rod " << from_rod <<
" to rod " << to_rod << endl;
towerOfHanoi(n - 1, aux_rod, to_rod, from_rod);
}

// Driver code
int main()
{
int n = 4; // Number of disks
towerOfHanoi(n, 'A', 'C', 'B'); // A, B and C are names of rods
return 0;
}

// This is code is contributed by rathbhupendra

C


#include <stdio.h>

 // C recursive function to solve tower of hanoi puzzle

void towerOfHanoi(int n, char from_rod, char to_rod, char aux_rod)
 {
if (n == 1)
 {
printf("\n Move disk 1 from rod %c to rod %c", from_rod, to_rod);
return;
}
towerOfHanoi(n-1, from_rod, aux_rod, to_rod);
printf("\n Move disk %d from rod %c to rod %c", n, from_rod, to_rod);
towerOfHanoi(n-1, aux_rod, to_rod, from_rod);
}

int main()
{
int n = 4; // Number of disks
towerOfHanoi(n, 'A', 'C', 'B'); // A, B and C are names of rods
return 0;
}

Java


// Java recursive program to solve tower of hanoi puzzle

 class GFG
{
 // Java recursive function to solve tower of hanoi puzzle
static void towerOfHanoi(int n, char from_rod, char to_rod, char aux_rod)
 {
if (n == 1)
{
System.out.println("Move disk 1 from rod " + from_rod + " to rod " + to_rod);
return;
}
towerOfHanoi(n-1, from_rod, aux_rod, to_rod);
System.out.println("Move disk " + n + " from rod " + from_rod + " to rod " + to_rod);
towerOfHanoi(n-1, aux_rod, to_rod, from_rod);
}

// Driver method
public static void main(String args[])
{
int n = 4; // Number of disks
towerOfHanoi(n, 'A', 'C', 'B'); // A, B and C are names of rods
}
} ▲

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10/21/2019 Program for Tower of Hanoi - GeeksforGeeks

Python

# Recursive Python function to solve tower of hanoi

 def TowerOfHanoi(n , from_rod, to_rod, aux_rod):

if n == 1:
 print "Move disk 1 from rod",from_rod,"to rod",to_rod
return
 TowerOfHanoi(n-1, from_rod, aux_rod, to_rod)
print "Move disk",n,"from rod",from_rod,"to rod",to_rod
TowerOfHanoi(n-1, aux_rod, to_rod, from_rod)

# Driver code
n = 4
TowerOfHanoi(n, 'A', 'C', 'B')
# A, C, B are the name of rods

# Contributed By Harshit Agrawal

C#


// C# recursive program to solve

// tower of hanoi puzzle
 using System;

 class geek
{

// C# recursive function to solve
// tower of hanoi puzzle
static void towerOfHanoi(int n, char from_rod,
char to_rod, char aux_rod)
{
if (n == 1)
{
Console.WriteLine("Move disk 1 from rod " + from_rod
+ " to rod " + to_rod);
return;
}
towerOfHanoi(n-1, from_rod, aux_rod, to_rod);
Console.WriteLine("Move disk " + n + " from rod "
+ from_rod + " to rod " + to_rod);
towerOfHanoi(n-1, aux_rod, to_rod, from_rod);
}

// Driver method
public static void Main()
{
// Number of disks
int n = 4;

// A, B and C are names of rods

towerOfHanoi(n, 'A', 'C', 'B');
}
}

// This code is contributed by Sam007

PHP


<?php
//PHP code to solve Tower of Hanoi problem.

// Recursive Function to solve Tower of Hanoi
 function towerOfHanoi($n, $from_rod, $to_rod, $aux_rod) {

 if ($n === 1) {
echo ("Move disk 1 from rod $from_rod to rod $to_rod \n");
return;
}

towerOfHanoi($n-1, $from_rod, $aux_rod, $to_rod);

echo ("Move disk $n from rod $from_rod to rod $to_rod \n");
towerOfHanoi($n-1, $aux_rod, $to_rod, $from_rod);
▲

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10/21/2019 Program for Tower of Hanoi - GeeksforGeeks

// Driver code

// number of disks
$n = 4;

// A, B and C are names of rods

towerOfHanoi($n, 'A', 'C', 'B');

// This code is contributed by akash7981

?>

Output:

Move disk 1 from rod A to rod B

Move disk 2 from rod A to rod C
Move disk 1 from rod B to rod C
Move disk 3 from rod A to rod B
Move disk 1 from rod C to rod A
Move disk 2 from rod C to rod B
Move disk 1 from rod A to rod B
Move disk 4 from rod A to rod C
Move disk 1 from rod B to rod C
Move disk 2 from rod B to rod A
Move disk 1 from rod C to rod A
Move disk 3 from rod B to rod C
Move disk 1 from rod A to rod B
Move disk 2 from rod A to rod C
Move disk 1 from rod B to rod C

For n disks, total 2n – 1 moves are required.

eg: For 4 disks 24 – 1 = 15 moves are required.

For n disks, total 2n-1 function calls are made.

eg: For 4 disks 24-1 = 8 function calls are made.

Related Articles

Recursive Functions
Iterative solution to TOH puzzle
Quiz on Recursion

Tower of Hanoi | GeeksforGeeks

References:
▲
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Hanoi

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This article is contributed by Rohit Thapliyal. If you like GeeksforGeeks and would like to contribute, you can also write an article
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Please write comments if you nd anything incorrect, or you want to share more information about the topic discussed above.

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Improved By : vaibhav29498, Rustam Ali, NipunPruthi, rathbhupendra

▲
Article Tags : Divide and Conquer School Programming Stack

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Practice Tags : Divide and Conquer Stack

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