This challenge is inspired by @LuisMendo's MATL answer to my "binary multiples" challenge.
Task
Pick a code-golf challenge that is open and that has been posted before this one; let me call it the "linked challenge". The linked challenge must be a challenge whose task involves producing output.
Write the shortest code possible that satisfies the following restrictions:
- Your code must contain the characters
b
,u
andg
in your program, in this order and consecutively (case-insensitive, so "bug", "BUG", "Bug", "bUg", ... are all fair game.); - Your code must not contain the letters
b
,u
andg
more than once (case-insensitive); - Your code should be a valid submission for the linked challenge;
- When any subset of the (case-insensitive) characters
bug
are removed, your program no longer fulfils the task of the linked challenge. This may happen because your program now produces the wrong output (i.e. fails test cases), because it halted with an error, because it runs indefinitely and never returns (if this is the case, be prepared to prove your program runs indefinitely), etc. - Your code should not be an integral copy - nor a trivial modification* - of a submission that already exists in the linked challenge (for example, you may not copy @LuisMendo's MATL answer to my "binary multiples" challenge);
Input
Your program takes input as per the specs of the linked challenge you choose.
Output
Your program, in its correct state (i.e. with a bug**), must abide by the output specs of the linked challenge you choose.
* This is subjective so I appeal to your common sense; any imaginative modification should be fair game, even if in retrospective it is "trivial". This "no trivial modifications" rule will be "enforced" by me downvoting answers I think disrespect this...
** Sit down, take a moment to let this sink in. Your program has a bug. And yet your program is correct.
Posting an answer
When you post your answer, please provide a link to your linked challenge.
This is code-golf so shortest submission in bytes, wins! If you liked this challenge, consider upvoting it! If you dislike this challenge, please give me your written feedback. Happy golfing!
30 Answers 30
Japt, 4 bytes
Challenge: Output with the same length as the code
BUG3
Explanation
B
, U
, and G
are variables for 11, the input, and 16 respectively.
When applied to a number, 3
brings it to the third power.
In Japt, only the last expression is outputted, so only \16ドル^3 = 4096\$ is outputted, which is the same length as the code (4).
Since B
and U
are ignored, removing them have no effect on the output. However, their removal changes the length of the program, making it invalid. Removing G
raises either the input (U
) or 11 (B
) to the third power. While \11ドル^3 = 1331\$ is 4 bytes, the program B3
is only two bytes, making the output invalid. The variable U
defaults to 0 when there is no input given, and \0ドル^3 = 0\$, which is only one byte long.
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\$\begingroup\$ This seems like a pretty clever answer. Why did you delete it? \$\endgroup\$ouflak– ouflak2020年03月17日 20:19:05 +00:00Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 20:19
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10\$\begingroup\$ @ouflak the first version had a bug, I deleted it to give me some time to edit it \$\endgroup\$Gymhgy– Gymhgy2020年03月17日 20:21:59 +00:00Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 20:21
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8\$\begingroup\$ @EmbodimentofIgnorance ba-dum crash! \$\endgroup\$S.S. Anne– S.S. Anne2020年03月18日 01:37:23 +00:00Commented Mar 18, 2020 at 1:37
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2\$\begingroup\$ Fail
³
also work \$\endgroup\$l4m2– l4m22020年05月22日 14:59:58 +00:00Commented May 22, 2020 at 14:59
Polyglot, 31 bytes
Linked challenge: "Hello, World!"
This is a full program, as per the original challenge requirements.
print('Hello, World'+'bug!'[3])
Try it in Ruby! (thanks to @Steffan for pointing this out)
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1\$\begingroup\$ This works in Ruby too. \$\endgroup\$naffetS– naffetS2022年11月18日 19:28:14 +00:00Commented Nov 18, 2022 at 19:28
JavaScript (ES7), 47 bytes
Linked challenge: How many petals around the rose
a=>a.map(n=>t+=n**3&parseInt('bug',35)%9,t=0)|t
How?
This is a port of my Python answer to the linked challenge. This answer requires a bitwise AND with a constant, which happens to be \6ドル\$.
This \6ドル\$ is obtained with the cumbersome parseInt('bug',35)%9
and removing any subset of characters from bug
would produce a different (and therefore invalid) constant.
s | parseInt(s, 35) | mod 9
-------+-----------------+-------
'bug' | 14541 | 6
'ug' | 1066 | 4
'bg' | 401 | 5
'bu' | 415 | 1
'g' | 16 | 7
'b' | 11 | 2
'u' | 30 | 3
'' | NaN | NaN
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1\$\begingroup\$
'bug'.length*2
is an alternative \$\endgroup\$Surculose Sputum– Surculose Sputum2020年03月17日 16:14:04 +00:00Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 16:14 -
4\$\begingroup\$ @SurculoseSputum That's actually not possible: there's a 'g' in 'length'. \$\endgroup\$Arnauld– Arnauld2020年03月17日 16:28:38 +00:00Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 16:28
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\$\begingroup\$ That's unfortunate :( I was thinking of Python when writing that comment. \$\endgroup\$Surculose Sputum– Surculose Sputum2020年03月17日 16:30:03 +00:00Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 16:30
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\$\begingroup\$
a=>a.map(n=>t+=n**3&('bug'[2]&&6),t=0)|t
for 40 bytes \$\endgroup\$Gymhgy– Gymhgy2020年03月17日 20:06:49 +00:00Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 20:06 -
\$\begingroup\$ @EmbodimentofIgnorance There's also
&!!'bug'[2]*6
for 39 bytes, but I think I'll stick with my sub-optimal version for this answer, so feel free to use it in another one! \$\endgroup\$Arnauld– Arnauld2020年03月17日 20:14:24 +00:00Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 20:14
C (gcc), 156 bytes
Answer to 99 bugs in the code. Not competitive, but funny.
#define S"%d bugs in the code\n"
d;f(i){for(i=99;i;i=d)printf(S S"Take one down and patch it aro\x75nd\n"S"\n",i,i,d=(d=i+rand()%21-16)<0?0:d);printf(S,0);}
Also beats the C solution there.
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2\$\begingroup\$ +1 for the "right" challenge to solve. \$\endgroup\$Bubbler– Bubbler2020年03月18日 02:41:25 +00:00Commented Mar 18, 2020 at 2:41
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\$\begingroup\$ Basically the same thing works in Hexagony, probably other layout languages, too. \$\endgroup\$FryAmTheEggman– FryAmTheEggman2020年03月17日 18:27:00 +00:00Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 18:27
PHP, 16 bytes
Solving Output programming language name
echo'2=7'^'bug';
Omitting any of the letters in bug
outputs a wrong string. However, it won't cause any errors so that error messages containing PHP
can never be outputted. All PHP answers in that challenge exploit either PHP flags, which cannot contain the word bug
, or PHP errors, which omitting a letter from bug
could still result in an output that fulfils the requirements.
Python 3, 24 bytes
while __debug__:print(1)
Linked challenge: Shortest infinite loop producing output
Uses the fact pointed out by @Bubbler:
Python has a built-in constant called
__debug__
which is True by default. Removing some of its bug will obviously be an error. Though I can't find a suitable challenge for that...
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\$\begingroup\$ Removing the
bu
from your answer still gives the correct answer -- the rules state that any subset of the characters inbug
being removed should cause the problem to return something different, not just the bug as a whole!! \$\endgroup\$Value Ink– Value Ink2020年03月17日 21:49:05 +00:00Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 21:49 -
\$\begingroup\$ @ValueInk I changed the language and used python instead. \$\endgroup\$2020年03月18日 03:56:31 +00:00Commented Mar 18, 2020 at 3:56
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\$\begingroup\$ Quoting my spec,
"The linked challenge must be a challenge whose task involves producing output."
\$\endgroup\$RGS– RGS2020年03月18日 06:51:09 +00:00Commented Mar 18, 2020 at 6:51 -
1\$\begingroup\$ @RGS that's been fixed now. I've really lost the ability to read challenges today. :P \$\endgroup\$2020年03月18日 06:57:23 +00:00Commented Mar 18, 2020 at 6:57
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4\$\begingroup\$ I really like the use of
__debug__
, however simply using"bug"[2]
should be shorter (and more boring). TIO. \$\endgroup\$Surculose Sputum– Surculose Sputum2020年03月18日 10:16:23 +00:00Commented Mar 18, 2020 at 10:16
APL (Dyalog Extended), 6 bytes
Solves Output with the same length as the code.
×ばつ'BUG'
Prints 1 1 1\n
, 6 bytes in total.
In regular APL, monadic ×ばつ
is Signum for numbers (-1 if negative, 1 if positive, 0 if zero). Extended provides an extended (no pun intended) definition for characters (-1 for lowercase, 1 for uppercase).
Because numeric arrays are printed with a space between items, deleting one char out of BUG
will remove two bytes (<space>1
) from the output, thus failing to solve the challenge. Deleting two chars will remove four output bytes, and deleting all of them gives only a single newline.
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\$\begingroup\$ The second submission is invalid because the linked challenge should produce output! \$\endgroup\$RGS– RGS2020年03月18日 06:40:12 +00:00Commented Mar 18, 2020 at 6:40
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\$\begingroup\$ Argh, thanks. Fixed. \$\endgroup\$GammaFunction– GammaFunction2020年03月18日 06:41:21 +00:00Commented Mar 18, 2020 at 6:41
CJam, 4 bytes
Challenge: Output with the same length as the code
It's working. But I still didn't manage a 3-byte solution.
BUG^
Why it works
B "Constant for 11";
U "Constant for 0";
G "Constant for 16";
^ "Bitwise XOR";
0 XOR 16 is 16, therefore it outputs 1116
.
Removing a single character
UG^
It just outputs 16
without other calculations.
BG^
It outputs 27
because 11 XOR 16 is 27.
BU^
It outputs 11
because 11 XOR 0 is 0.
Removing 2 characters
CJam doesn't have implicit input, so all these programs would throw an error.
Lua and perhaps a polyglot in concept, (削除) 25 (削除ここまで) (削除) 28 (削除ここまで) 32 bytes
Along the lines of Arnauld's answer, linked to challenge Output programming language name.
print('076円117円097円 5.'..#'bUg')
Added 3 bytes Thanks to @RGS spotting the 'u' in 'Lua'
Added 4 bytes Thanks to @MariaMiller for the 'L' and the 'a' as well
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\$\begingroup\$ This is not a valid answer because the letter "u" appears twice in your code! \$\endgroup\$RGS– RGS2020年03月17日 18:16:39 +00:00Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 18:16
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\$\begingroup\$ @RGS, Oh my God. You're right! Let me fix this up. \$\endgroup\$ouflak– ouflak2020年03月17日 18:19:19 +00:00Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 18:19
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1\$\begingroup\$ @MariaMiller, Refresh your browser. Unless I'm misunderstanding your comment, RGS already pointed that out and I've already updated the answer. \$\endgroup\$ouflak– ouflak2020年03月17日 18:58:15 +00:00Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 18:58
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1\$\begingroup\$ According to the linked kata, your code cannot include any characters of the language's name, but case sensitive so it can be fixed: You can fix
L
anda
with the same way you fixedu
, and I just noticed that you can changebug
tobUg
orBUG
or whatever and this will be alright. Sorry if I was confusing. \$\endgroup\$naffetS– naffetS2020年03月17日 22:26:48 +00:00Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 22:26 -
1\$\begingroup\$ Didn't they realize that both
l
andA
aren't banned in outputting the language name? 25 bytes \$\endgroup\$user92069– user920692020年03月18日 06:11:14 +00:00Commented Mar 18, 2020 at 6:11
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\$\begingroup\$ Your code work because format string is just placed after
"bug"
, or to say your solution relies on existance ofprintf
\$\endgroup\$l4m2– l4m22020年04月22日 13:08:51 +00:00Commented Apr 22, 2020 at 13:08
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\$\begingroup\$ Maybe I'm missing something but your TIO link produces no output \$\endgroup\$RGS– RGS2020年03月18日 17:07:57 +00:00Commented Mar 18, 2020 at 17:07
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\$\begingroup\$ @RGS I forgot the footer. Hang on... \$\endgroup\$S.S. Anne– S.S. Anne2020年03月18日 17:08:45 +00:00Commented Mar 18, 2020 at 17:08
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\$\begingroup\$ Woops, I only noticed now... The character
u
shows up twice in your answer! \$\endgroup\$RGS– RGS2020年03月20日 15:39:53 +00:00Commented Mar 20, 2020 at 15:39 -
1\$\begingroup\$ @RGS Fixed..... \$\endgroup\$S.S. Anne– S.S. Anne2020年03月20日 15:43:18 +00:00Commented Mar 20, 2020 at 15:43
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\$\begingroup\$ why
&&
? then . \$\endgroup\$l4m2– l4m22020年04月22日 10:34:08 +00:00Commented Apr 22, 2020 at 10:34
Javascript, 8 characters
Linked question: Output with the same length as the code
bug=>1e7
Outputs 10000000
, which has the same length as the program. Removing 1 or 2 characters would make it print the same thing, but wouldn't match the length of the program anymore. Removing all 3 is a syntax error.
05AB1E, 4 bytes
Linked challenge: Output with same length as the code.
Port of Embodiment of Ignorance's Japt answer.
bugт
Jelly, 8 bytes
Reverse Bit Order of 32-bit Integers
%Ø%BUGƇḄ
I managed to find a challenge that actually uses two of the letters in a productive way.
There's no Jelly answer to the challenge at the time of writing this answer.
Explanation
%Ø%BUGƇḄ Main monadic link
% Modulo
Ø% 2^32
B Convert to binary
U Reverse
Ƈ Filter by
G Format as a grid
Ḅ Convert from binary
Ruby, 24 bytes
Linked to Find the number of integers in the range from 1 to N that ends with 2
->n{(n+5+"bug".size)/10}
Linked to challenge: Find the number of integers in the range from 1 to N that ends with 2
Python 2, (削除) 95 (削除ここまで) \$\cdots\$ (削除) 39 (削除ここまで) 35 bytes
Saved a byte (in a previous version) thanks to Maria Miller!!!
Saved a byte (in an other previous version) thanks to Surculose Sputum!!!
def f(n):print((n+len("bug")+5)/10)
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\$\begingroup\$ @MariaMiller Nice one - thanks! :-) \$\endgroup\$Noodle9– Noodle92020年03月17日 18:19:55 +00:00Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 18:19
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Linked to challenge: Find the number of integers in the range from 1 to N that ends with 2
C (gcc), (削除) 51 (削除ここまで) (削除) 42 (削除ここまで) 40 bytes
i;f(n){for(i=0;n+=2,"bug"[i++];);n/=10;}
JavaScript (Node.js), 39 bytes
Linked Challenge: How many petals around the rose
a=>a.map(n=>t+=n**3&!!'bug'[2]*6,t=0)|t
Originally posted as a golf to Arnauld's answer.
W, 6 bytes
Challenge: Output the same length as code
BUG"2*
Repeats the string "BUG" multiple times.
Python 2, 13 bytes
Solves Output with the same length as the code.
print 'bug'*4
Prints bugbugbugbug\n
.
Python 2, 27 bytes
Solves Hello, World!
print'bugHello, World!'[3:]
Removing some of bug
will chop off characters from the beginning of 'Hello, World!'
.
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\$\begingroup\$ The middle answer isn't valid because the linked challenge has to produce output! \$\endgroup\$RGS– RGS2020年03月18日 06:35:33 +00:00Commented Mar 18, 2020 at 6:35
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\$\begingroup\$ I mean in my spec :) you have to pick a challenge where you have to produce output
"The linked challenge must be a challenge whose task involves producing output."
\$\endgroup\$RGS– RGS2020年03月18日 06:43:01 +00:00Commented Mar 18, 2020 at 6:43 -
1\$\begingroup\$ @RGS Oops, sorry, I missed the restriction. \$\endgroup\$Bubbler– Bubbler2020年03月18日 06:43:27 +00:00Commented Mar 18, 2020 at 6:43
J, 7 bytes
Solves I double the source, you double the output!
>:Debug
Try it online! Try it online!Try it online!
Prints 1 as given, 2 doubled.
How it works
Monadic >:
is "increment" (add 1), dyadic >:
is "greater or equal" (x >= y
).
>:Debug NB. increment 0; gives 1
>:Debug>:Debug
Debug>:Debug NB. 0 >= 0; gives 1
>: NB. increment it; gives 2
J, 12 bytes
Solves Output with the same length as code.
echo 6#Debug
Somewhat similar to Python, J has a stdlib variable Debug
which is initialized to the number 0. 6#
replicates the zero 6 times, and echo
prints it. The output formatting is identical to APL's (space-separated numbers), so the output is 0 0 0 0 0 0\n
.
Being a terse language, I suspect there could be a more suitable challenge for J which gives a shorter solution using Debug
.
Io, 18 bytes
Challenge: Output programming language name
(Joke ruiner over here, never mind.)
This errors (outputting the language name) when the bug is inside, and it doesn't error when any part of the bug is removed.
If you think that this uses the i
character (taken from the question):
Note that this is case sensitive. I can still use the char 'b' because it's different from 'B'.
if("bug"size>2,iO)
Explanation
size // Is the length of
"bug" // the string "bug"
>2 // larger than 2?
if( , // If so,
iO // Access an undefined variable
) // Otherwise, do nothing
Io, 19 bytes
Challenge: Output with the same length as the code
"bug"at(2)cos print
Explanation
"bug" // The sequence "bug"
at(2) // The 3rd index of that
// (Out-of-bounds indexing returns nil)
// This returns an integer for an in-bound index
cos // Find the cosine of that
// (Cosine over nil throws an error)
print // Print that value to STDOUT. (WITHOUT a newline)
Io, 19 bytes
Challenge:Shortest infinite loop producing no output
while("bug"at(2),0)
Explanation
"bug" // Base string "Bug"
at(2) // Try to access the 3rd item of the string
// (Out-of-bounds returns nil)
while( , // While that's true:
// (So a string is always true and nil is always false)
0) // No action needed
Java 8, (削除) 88 (削除ここまで) 87 bytes
Linked challenge: Is this number a prime?
Given a number, outputs truthy/falsey depending on whether it is a prime number.
n->{int i="BUG".charAt(2)-70;for(;n%++i%n>0;);System.console().printf("%s",""+(n==i));}
Try it online (Note: System.console()
is System.out
on TIO, since TIO doesn't support console).
Explanation:
n->{ // Method with integer parameter and no return-type
int i= // Integer `i`, starting at:
"BUG".charAt(3) // Get the third character from String `"BUG"` as unicode value
-70; // and subtract 70 from it, so it'll become 1
for(;n%++i // Increase `i` by 1 first before every iteration with `++i`
%n>0;); // And loop as long as `n` modulo-`i` is not 0
// NOTE: The second `%n` is to stop the loop for input n=1
System.console().printf("%s",
// Print to STDOUT with String format:
""+( // Convert the following boolean to String:
n==i));} // Check if `n` and `i` are equal
Prime checker credit goes to @SaraJ's answer here, which is rather ingenious.
Things I had to do to comply to the challenge:
- The challenge description mentions program (and technically the linked challenge as well), but this isn't possible in Java. I know five different ways of creating a full program in Java, but each of them requires at least one of the letters
bgu
. Usually I can get past source-restrictions by using\u
-unicode escapes, but sinceu
is one of the restricted characters that's also not an option here. Luckily OP allowed functions as well, which is (much) shorter anyway. - I couldn't use
return
since it contains anu
. And I also couldn't useSystem.out.print(...)
, since it contains anu
as well. So instead, I useSystem.console().printf("format",...)
- Since I wanted to print a boolean, the format to use in the
printf
would be"%b"
. Unfortunately,b
is blocked, so instead I use"%s"
and convert the boolean to a string. - And last thing to tackle was of course sneaking
bug
in, so it works with it, but doesn't work anymore without it. I've done this by changing theint i=1;
toint i="BUG".charAt(2)-31;
, which grabs the third character in the String (the'G'
) as unicode value (71
), and subtracts 70 from it to make it1
. If any of theB
,U
, and/orG
is removed, the.charAt(2)
will fail with aStringIndexOutOfBoundsException
.
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\$\begingroup\$ Kevin, I fear you missed something very important: as soon as any
part
of"bug"
is removed, your program should no longer work. So assigning it as variable somewhere doesn't really work, because havingbu=0
still works... \$\endgroup\$RGS– RGS2020年03月20日 16:52:18 +00:00Commented Mar 20, 2020 at 16:52 -
\$\begingroup\$ @RGS Should be fixed now. \$\endgroup\$Kevin Cruijssen– Kevin Cruijssen2020年03月20日 17:21:33 +00:00Commented Mar 20, 2020 at 17:21
R, 15 bytes
Linked challenge: Output with the same length as the code
strrep("bug",5)
(or 18 bytes if we include the default [1] ""
formatting with which R surrounds its ouput, but this restriction did not seem to be applied to the original linked challenge).
Batch, 11 bytes
Linked challenge: Output with the same length as the code
@echo %bug%
Outputs ECHO is on.
when run regularly or when some of bug
is removed, and outputs %
when all of bug
is removed.
Javascript (82 characters)
Linked challenge: Integer lists of Noah
c=>eval('O\x62ject').keys(x={},c.map(a=>x[a]=(x[a]||0)+1)).some(z=>x[z]!=2)&&'bug'
It's a bit lame, but I'm defining my outputs as producing 'bug' when input list is not a Noah list, and false
when it is.
I love this challenge though. Maybe I can find a better solution. :)
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\$\begingroup\$ Wait, I didn't notice the
b
inObject
until now. doh. \$\endgroup\$Steve Bennett– Steve Bennett2020年05月01日 11:12:12 +00:00Commented May 1, 2020 at 11:12 -
\$\begingroup\$ I'm glad you like my challenge :D Like you noted, "Object" has an extra "b"; ping me when you find a valid solution! \$\endgroup\$RGS– RGS2020年05月01日 11:23:52 +00:00Commented May 1, 2020 at 11:23
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\$\begingroup\$ I assume that escape sequences are allowed, so
eval("O\x62ject")
should be able to replaceObject
? \$\endgroup\$Shieru Asakoto– Shieru Asakoto2020年09月03日 01:41:15 +00:00Commented Sep 3, 2020 at 1:41
__debug__
which isTrue
by default. Removing some of itsbug
will obviously be an error. Though I can't find a suitable challenge for that... \$\endgroup\$