Draw an ASCII Rectangle

Question

Given two integers as input in an array, draw a rectangle, using the first integer as width and second as height.

Or, if your language supports it, the two integers can be given as separate inputs.

Assume the width and height will never be less than 3, and they will always be given.

Example Outputs:

[3, 3]

|-|
| |
|-|

[5, 8]

|---|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|---|

[10, 3]

|--------|
| |
|--------|

This is code-golf, so the answer with the lowest amount of bytes wins.

Answer 1

Jelly, 14 bytes

,þ%,ỊḄị"-|| "Y

Try it online! or verify all test cases.

How it works

,þ%,ỊḄị"-|| "Y Main link. Left argument: w. Right argument: h
,þ Pair table; yield a 2D array of all pairs [i, j] such that
 1 ≤ i ≤ w and 1 ≤ j ≤ h.
 , Pair; yield [w, h].
 % Take the remainder of the element-wise division of each [i, j]
 by [w, h]. This replaces the highest coordinates with zeroes.
 Ị Insignificant; map 0 and 1 to 1, all other coordinates to 0.
 Ḅ Unbinary; convert each pair from base 2 to integer.
 [0, 0] -> 0 (area)
 [0, 1] -> 1 (top or bottom edge)
 [1, 0] -> 2 (left or right edge)
 [1, 1] -> 3 (vertex)
 "-|| " Yield that string. Indices are 1-based and modular in Jelly, so the
 indices of the characters in this string are 1, 2, 3, and 0.
 ị At-index; replace the integers by the correspoding characters.
 Y Join, separating by linefeeds.

• lynn: This is a wonderful use of Ị :)

Answer 2

Matlab, (削除) 69 (削除ここまで) (削除) 65 (削除ここまで) 56 bytes

Thanks @WeeingIfFirst and @LuisMendo for some bytes=)

function z=f(a,b);z(b,a)=' ';z([1,b],:)=45;z(:,[1,a])='|'

This is really simple in Matlab: First make a matrix of the desired size, then index the first and last row to insert the -, and do the same with the first and last column to insert |.

For example f(4,3) returns

|--|
| |
|--|

• flawr: @WeeingIfFirst Oh, of course, thank you very much!
• Stewie Griffin: 6 bytes shorter: z([1,b],1:a)=45;z(1:b,[1,a])=124;z=[z,'']
• Luis Mendo: Even shorter: z(b,a)=' ';z([1,b],:)=45;z(:,[1,a])=124
• flawr: @LuisMendo Thanks! We still need the string tough, otherwise the array is converted to a numerical one.
• Luis Mendo: @flawr z(b,a)=' ' initiallizes as char. After that you can fill with numbers and they are automatically cast to char. z maintains its original type

Answer 3

JavaScript (ES6), 63 bytes

f=
(w,h,g=c=>`|${c[0].repeat(w-2)}|
`)=>g`-`+g` `.repeat(h-2)+g`-`
;

<div oninput=o.textContent=f(w.value,h.value)><input id=w type=number min=3 value=3><input id=h type=number min=3 value=3><pre id=o>

• Nebula: Passing a template function as a default argument? Clever!
• Weird Glyphs: If we allow nested functions (i.e. f(3)(5) instead of f(3,5)), one more byte can be saved

Answer 4

Haskell, (削除) 62 (削除ここまで) 55 bytes

f[a,b]n=a:(b<$[3..n])++[a]
g i=unlines.f[f"|-"i,f"| "i]

Usage example:

*Main> putStr $ g 10 3
|--------|
| |
|--------|

The helper function f takes a two element list [a,b] and a number n and returns a list of one a followed by n-2 bs followed by one a. We can use f thrice: to build the top/bottom line: f "|-" i, a middle line: f "| " i and from those two the whole rectangle: f [<top>,<middle>] j (note: j doesn't appear as a parameter in g i because of partial application).

Edit: @dianne saved some bytes by combining two Char arguments into one String of length 2. Thanks a lot!

• flawr: I like the # idea!
• dianne: I think you can save a few bytes by defining (a:b)#n=a:([3..n]>>b)++[a] and writing ["|-"#i,"| "#i]#j
• nimi: @dianne: Very clever. Thanks a lot!

Answer 5

Python 2, (削除) 61 (削除ここまで) 58 bytes

-3 bytes thanks to @flornquake (remove unnecessary parentheses; use h as counter)

def f(w,h):exec"print'|'+'- '[1<h<%d]*(w-2)+'|';h-=1;"%h*h

Test cases are at ideone

• flornquake: ('- '[1<i<h]) doesn't need the parentheses.
• flornquake: Save another byte by using h as the counter: exec"print'|'+'- '[1<h<%d]*(w-2)+'|';h-=1;"%h*h
• Jonathan Allan: @flornquake I had meant to check the necessity of those parentheses, but forgot. Using h as the counter is smart! Thanks.

Answer 6

Vimscript, (削除) 93 (削除ここまで) (削除) 83 (削除ここまで) (削除) 75 (削除ここまで) (削除) 74 (削除ここまで) (削除) 73 (削除ここまで) (削除) 66 (削除ここまで) (削除) 64 (削除ここまで) 63 bytes

Code

fu A(...)
exe "norm ".a:1."i|\ehv0lr-YpPgvr dd".a:2."p2dd"
endf

Example

:call A(3,3)

Explanation

fun A(...) " a function with unspecified params (a:1 and a:2)
exe " exe(cute) command - to use the parameters we must concatenate :(
norm " run in (norm) al mode
#i| " insert # vertical bars
\e " return (`\<Esc>`) to normal mode
hv0l " move left, enter visual mode, go to the beginning of the line, move right (selects inner `|`s)
r- " (r)eplace the visual selection by `-`s
YpP " (Y) ank the resulting line, and paste them twice
gv " re-select the previous visual selection
r<Space> " replace by spaces
dd " Cut the line
#p " Paste # times (all inner rows) 
2dd " Remove extra lines

Note that it is not using norm! so it might interfere with vim custom mappings!

Answer 7

PHP, 74 Bytes

for(;$i<$n=$argv[2];)echo str_pad("|",$argv[1]-1,"- "[$i++&&$n-$i])."|\n";

• Titus: You can still win one byte with a physical linebreak.
• Titus: -2 bytes with !$i|$n==++$i instead of !$i|$n-1==$i++
• Titus: another byte with $i++&&$n-$i?" ":"-"
• Titus: $i++&&$n-$i?" ":"-" --> "- "[$i++&&$n-$i] (-2)

Answer 8

Jolf, 6 bytes

,ajJ'|

Try it here! My box builtin finally came in handy! :D

,ajJ'|
,a draw a box
 j with width (input 1)
 J and height (input 2)
 ' with options
 | - corner
 - the rest are defaults

Answer 9

MATL, 19 bytes

'|-| '2:"iqWQB]E!+)

Try it online!

Explanation

The approach is similar to that used in this other answer. The code builds a numerical array of the form

3 2 2 2 3
1 0 0 0 1
1 0 0 0 1
1 0 0 0 1
1 0 0 0 1
1 0 0 0 1
1 0 0 0 1
3 2 2 2 3

and then its values are used as (1-based, modular) indices into the string '|-| ' to produce the desired result.

'|-| ' % Push this string
 2:" ] % Do this twice
 i % Take input
 q % Subtract 1
 W % 2 raised to that
 Q % Add 1
 B % Convert to binary
 E % Multiply by 2
 ! % Transpose
 + % Add with broadcast
 ) % Index (modular, 1-based) into the string

Answer 10

05AB1E, (削除) 23 (削除ここまで) (削除) 22 (削除ここまで) 20 bytes

Input taken as height, then width.

F„ -N_N1&l×ばつ'|.ø,

Explanation

F # height number of times do
 N_ # current row == first row
 ~ # OR
 N1<Q # current row == last row
 „ - è # use this to index into " -"
 ×ばつ # repeat this char width-2 times
 '| # push a pipe
 .ø # surround the repeated string with the pipe
 , # print with newline

Try it online!

Saved 2 bytes thanks to Adnan

• Adnan: Using substrings instead of the if-else statement saves two bytes: F„ -N_N¹<Q~è²Í×'|.ø,.

Answer 11

C, 73 bytes

i;f(w,h){for(i=++w*h;i--;)putchar(i%w?~-i%w%~-~-w?i/w%~-h?32:45:124:10);}

Answer 12

Python 2, 56 bytes

w,h=input()
for c in'-%*c'%(h-1,45):print'|'+c*(w-2)+'|'

flornquake saved one byte.

• flornquake: Nice use of string formatting! You can save a byte using %c conversion: '-%*c'%(h-1,45)
• lynn: Oh, I thought %*c wasn’t even a thing! Thank you. :)
• xnor: '-%%%dc'%~-h%45 also works for the same length.

Answer 13

Common Lisp, 104 bytes

Golfed:

(defun a(w h)(flet((f(c)(format t"|~v@{~A~:*~}|~%"(- w 2)c)))(f"-")(loop repeat(- h 2)do(f" "))(f"-")))

Ungolfed:

(defun a (w h)
 (flet ((f (c) (format t "|~v@{~A~:*~}|~%" (- w 2) c)))
 (f "-")
 (loop repeat (- h 2) do
 (f " "))
 (f "-")))

Answer 14

Turtlèd, 40 bytes

Interpreter is (削除) slightly (削除ここまで) no longer buggèd

?;,u[*'|u]'|?@-[*:l'|l[|,l]d@ ],ur[|'-r]

Explanation

? - input integer into register
 ; - move down by the contents of register
 , - write the char variable, default *
 u - move up
 [* ] - while current cell is not *
 '| - write |
 u - move up
 '| - write | again
 ? - input other integer into register
 @- - set char variable to -
 [* ] - while current char is not *
 :l'|l - move right by amount in register, move left, write |, move left again
 [|,l] - while current cell is not |, write char variable, move left
 d@ - move down, set char variable to space (this means all but first iteration of loop writes space)
 ,ur -write char variable, move up, right
 [| ] -while current char is not |
 '-r - write -, move right

Answer 15

Mathematica, (削除) 67 (削除ここまで) 64 bytes

Thanks to lastresort and TuukkaX for reminding me that golfers should be sneaky and saving 3 bytes!

Straightforward implementation. Returns an array of strings.

Table[Which[j<2||j==#,"|",i<2||i==#2,"-",0<1," "],{i,#2},{j,#}]&

• user58632: Use 0<1 in place of True
• Yytsi: I think that j==1 can be reduced to j<1, and i==1 to i<1.

Answer 16

Python 3, (削除) 104 (削除ここまで) 95 bytes

( feedback from @mbomb007 : -9 bytes)

def d(x,y):return'\n'.join(('|'+('-'*(x-2)if n<1or n==~-y else' '*(x-2))+'|')for n in range(y))

(my first code golf, appreciate feedback)

• mbomb007: Welcome! You can remove some of the spaces, use range(y) instead of range(0,y), and if n is never negative you can use if n<1or n==~-y else
• mbomb007: See the Python tips page

Answer 17

Batch, 128 bytes

@set s=
@for /l %%i in (3,1,%1)do @call set s=-%%s%%
@echo ^|%s%^|
@for /l %%i in (3,1,%2)do @echo ^|%s:-= %^|
@echo ^|%s%^|

Takes width and height as command-line parameters.

Answer 18

Haxe, (削除) 112 (削除ここまで) 106 bytes

function R(w,h){for(l in 0...h){var s="";for(i in 0...w)s+=i<1||i==w-1?'|':l<1||l==h-1?'-':' ';trace(s);}}

Testcases

R(5, 8)
|---|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|---|
R(10, 3)
|---------|
| |
|---------|

Answer 19

Java 135 bytes

public String rect(int x, int y){
String o="";
for(int i=-1;++i<y;){
o+="|";
for(int j=2;++j<x)
if(i<1||i==y-1)
o+="-";
else
o+=" ";
o+="|\n";
}
return o;
}

Golfed:

String r(int x,int y){String o="";for(int i=-1;++i<y;){o+="|";for(int j=2;++j<x;)if(i<1||i==y-1)o+="-";else o+=" ";o+="|\n";}return o;}

• Christian Rondeau: I count 136 :) You can also save a char by removing the space after the first comma.
• Yytsi: First of all, this code doesn't compile. Even if this would compile, it wouldn't 'draw' a rectangle as the OP currently wants. -1.
• Linnea Gräf: @TuukkaX I fixed that newline problem, but I don't see any reason why it should not compile. Of course you have to put that code in a class, but then it should work.
• Yytsi: "I don't see any reason why it should not compile". What's this then: o+=x "|\n"? Did you mean to put an + there?
• Linnea Gräf: Thanks. I didn't wanted to place any characters there.

Answer 20

PowerShell v3+, 55 bytes

param($a,$b)1..$b|%{"|$((' ','-')[$_-in1,$b]*($a-2))|"}

Takes input $a and $b. Loops from 1 to $b. Each iteration, we construct a single string. The middle is selected from an array of two single-length strings, then string-multiplied by $a-2, while it's surrounded by pipes. The resulting strings are left on the pipeline, and output via implicit Write-Output happens on program completion, with default newline separator.

Alternatively, also at 55 bytes

param($a,$b)1..$b|%{"|$((''+' -'[$_-in1,$b])*($a-2))|"}

This one came about because I was trying to golf the array selection in the middle by using a string instead. However, since [char] times [int] isn't defined, we lose out on the savings by needing to cast as a string with parens and ''+.

Both versions require v3 or newer for the -in operator.

Examples

PS C:\Tools\Scripts\golfing> .\draw-an-ascii-rectangle.ps1 10 3
|--------|
| |
|--------|
PS C:\Tools\Scripts\golfing> .\draw-an-ascii-rectangle.ps1 7 6
|-----|
| |
| |
| |
| |
|-----|

Answer 21

PHP, 82 bytes

list(,$w,$h)=$argv;for($p=$h--*$w;$p;)echo$p--%$w?$p%$w?$p/$w%$h?" ":"-":"|
":"|";

indexing a static string including the newline

list(,$w,$h)=$argv; // import arguments
for($p=$h--*++$w;$p;) // loop $p through all positions counting backwards
 // decrease $h and increase $w to avoid parens in ternary conditions
 echo" -|\n"[
 $p--%$w // not (last+1 column -> 3 -> "\n")
 ? $p%$w%($w-2) // not (first or last row -> 2 -> "|")
 ?+!($p/$w%$h) // 0 -> space for not (first or last row -> 1 -> "-")
 :2
 :3
 ];

• Titus: Dear downvoter: why?
• mbomb007: It could be because a user saw that your answer was flagged as low quality in the review queue. If you post an explanation of your code, or anything more than a one-liner, you can avoid it being automatically flagged.
• Titus: @mbomb: I have never seen anyone post a description for a oneliner in a non-eso language.
• mbomb007: Or output, or a non-golfed version. It doesn't matter as long as the content is not too short. But you probably haven't been around long if you haven't seen that. Some Python one-liners can be pretty complicated. Look at some of @xnor's.

Answer 22

Ruby, (削除) 59 (削除ここまで) (削除) 54 (削除ここまで) 52 bytes

Oh, that's a lot simpler :)

->x,y{y.times{|i|puts"|#{(-~i%y<2??-:' ')*(x-2)}|"}}

Test run at ideone

• Jordan: You can save a couple bytes by using a literal newlines instead of \n.
• m-chrzan: You can save bytes by not defining i and j. Replace i's definition with x-=2. Instead of j, just use (y-2).

Answer 23

Perl, 48 bytes

Includes +1 for -n

Give sizes as 2 lines on STDIN

perl -nE 'say"|".$_ x($`-2)."|"for"-",($")x(<>-1-/$/),"-"'
3
8
^D

Just the code:

say"|".$_ x($`-2)."|"for"-",($")x(<>-1-/$/),"-"

• Dada: Nice one, as always. Note that you've got a backtick at the end of the line while you probably wanted to write a single quote ;-)
• Ton Hospel: @Dada Fixed. Thanks.

Answer 24

Lua, (削除) 120 (削除ここまで) 93 bytes

Saved quite a few bytes by removing stupid over complexities.

function(w,h)function g(s)return'|'..s:rep(w-2)..'|\n'end b=g'-'print(b..g' ':rep(h-2)..b)end

Ungolfed:

function(w,h) -- Define Anonymous Function
 function g(s) -- Define 'Row Creation' function. We use this twice, so it's less bytes to function it.
 return'|'..s:rep(w-2)..'|\n' -- Sides, Surrounding the chosen filler character (' ' or '-'), followed by a newline
 end
 b=g'-' -- Assign the top and bottom rows to the g of '-', which gives '|---------|', or similar.
 print(b..g' ':rep(h-2)..b) -- top, g of ' ', repeated height - 2 times, bottom. Print.
end

Try it on Repl.it

Answer 25

bash, sed and coreutils, (削除) 95 (削除ここまで) 89 bytes

You can define a function like this

f(){ n=$[1ドル-2];yes \ |sed $[2ドル*n]q|tr -d \\n|fold -w$n|sed 's/^\|$/|/g;1!{$!b};s/ /-/g';}

Or in a more readable format:

f() { 
 n=$((1ドル-2))
 
 # The next couple of lines create a rectangle of spaces
 # matching the desired size
 yes ' ' |
 head -n$((2ドル*n)) |
 tr -d '\n' |
 fold -w$n |
 # Add the pipes and dashes
 sed '
 s/^\|$/|/g # Replace first and last character by a pipe
 1! {$!b } # Do nothing if not on first or last line
 s/ /-/g # Add the dashes
 '
 echo
}

You can now say f 4 3:

|--|
| |
|--|

If you care about trailing new-line, add an echo at the end of function.

Answer 26

Bash, 87 characters

Inspired by Asturio's solution.

printf -vl '|%*s|' $[1ドル-2]
h=${l// /-}
echo $h
for((i=2;i++<2ドル;));{ echo "$l";}
echo $h

Try it online!

Answer 27

Bash and seq, (削除) 132 (削除ここまで) 108 bytes

 b(){ echo -n "|";for i in $(seq 3 1ドル);do echo -n "2ドル";done;echo "|";}
 r(){ b 1ドル "-";for i in $(seq 3 2ドル);do b 1ドル " ";done;b 1ドル "-";}

Use calling r, like r 8 4:

|------|
| |
| |
|------|

Update with manatwork suggestions, reducing to 108 byte (not EOL in the last line):

b(){ echo "|`for i in $(seq 3 1ドル);{ echo -n "2ドル";}`|";}
r(){ b 1ドル -;for i in `seq 3 2ドル`;{ b 1ドル \ ;};b 1ドル -;}

• manatwork: Nice first solution. But size could be reduced a bit. 1) Change echo -n "before"; something; echo "after" to echo "before`something`after". 2) Apply DigitalTrauma's tip. 3) Remove unnecessary double quotes. 4) Use `..` instead of $(..) for command substitution where not embedded. Try it online!

Answer 28

Python 2, 67 bytes

def f(a,b):c="|"+"-"*(a-2)+"|\n";print c+c.replace("-"," ")*(b-2)+c

Examples

f(3,3)
|-|
| |
|-|
f(5,8)
|---|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|---|
f(10,3)
|--------|
| |
|--------|

Answer 29

MATL, (削除) 21 (削除ここまで) 17 bytes

Z"45ILJhY('|'5MZ(

This is a slightly different approach than the one of the MATL-God.

Z" Make a matrix of spaces of the given size
 45ILJhY( Fill first and last row with '-' (code 45)
 '|'5MZ( Fill first and last column with '|' (using the automatic clipboard entry 5M to get ILJh back)

Thanks @LuisMendo for all the help!

Try it Online!

Answer 30

PHP 4.1, 76 bytes

<?$R=str_repeat;echo$l="|{$R('-',$w=$W-2)}|
",$R("|{$R(' ',$w)}|
",$H-2),$l;

This assumes you have the default php.ini settings for this version, including short_open_tag and register_globals enabled.

This requires access through a web server (e.g.: Apache), passing the values over session/cookie/POST/GET variables.
The key W controls the width and the key H controls the height.
For example: http://localhost/file.php?W=3&H=5

• Ismael Miguel: @Titus You should read the link. Quoting: "As of PHP 4.2.0, this directive defaults to off".
• Titus: Ouch sorry I take everything back. You have the version in your title. I should read more carefully.
• Ismael Miguel: @Titus That's alright, don't worry. Sorry for being harsh on you.
• Titus: Nevermind; that´s the price I pay for being pedantic. :D
• Ismael Miguel: @Titus Don't worry about it. Just so you know, around half of my answers are written in PHP 4.1. It saves tons of bytes with input