Day 3, Part 1

#load the wire input into arrays for processing
input1 = open("wire1.txt", "r")
input2 = open("wire2.txt", "r")

wire1 = input1.read()       #reads the file into a variable as one long string
wire2 = input2.read()

wire1 = wire1.split(",")    #turns the string into an array of smaller strings
wire2 = wire2.split(",")

input1.close()
input2.close()

pos = [0,0]     #set initial position

def move(dir1):     #function for moving the position by one, given an input direction
    if(dir1=="U"):
        pos[1] += 1
    elif(dir1=="D"):
        pos[1] -= 1
    elif(dir1=="L"):
        pos[0] -= 1
    elif(dir1=="R"):
        pos[0] += 1
    else:
        print("unknown direction")

def toCenter(num1, num2):       #function for finding the distance from [0,0]
    distance = abs(num1) + abs(num2)
    return distance

#plot the first wire
plot1 = open("plot1.txt", "w")
for i in range(len(wire1)-1):     #one loop iteration per instruction
    command = list(wire1[i])
    direction = command[0]      #first character is the direction
    length = ""                 #remaining characters are the length
    for i in range(1,len(command)):
        length += command[i]
    length = int(length)
    for i in range(length):     #move position one at a time and log it
        move(direction)
        plot1.write(str(pos[0]) + "," + str(pos[1]) + "\n")
plot1.close()

pos = [0,0]

#plot the second wire
plot2 = open("plot2.txt", "w")
for i in range(len(wire2)-1):
    command = list(wire2[i])
    direction = command[0]
    length = ""
    for i in range(1,len(command)):
        length += command[i]
    length = int(length)
    for i in range(length):
        move(direction)
        plot2.write(str(pos[0]) + "," + str(pos[1]) + "\n")
plot2.close()

#load the resulting plots back into arrays to be processed
check1 = open("plot1.txt", "r")
check2 = open("plot2.txt", "r")

plot1 = check1.read()   #reuse the plot variables since they're no longer in use
plot2 = check2.read()

plot1 = plot1.split("\n")
plot2 = plot2.split("\n")

low = 10000000000       #a ridiculously high standard to find the lowest distance to (0,0)

#loop through both files and see how many positions are equal
#these will be the intercepts
for x in range(len(plot1)-2):
    for y in range(len(plot2)-2):
        if (plot1[x] == plot2[y]):  #if the positions are equal
            print("The wires cross at position " + plot1[x])
            cross = plot1[x].split(",")
            dist = toCenter(int(cross[0]), int(cross[1]))   #get the distance and compare to the current low
            if(dist < low):
                low = dist
                lowPos = plot1[x]

print("The closest intercept to the center is at " + lowPos + " at a distance of " + str(low))