remove_duplicates_and_sort.py

# remove_duplicates.py by gauravssnl

# this script removes duplicate characters from string and sort characters and count number of duplicates.For example : remove_duplicates( "aaabbbac") = ( "abc" , 5)

def remove_duplicates( InputStr ) :

    # stores duplicates count in dictionary repDict where character will be key and its repitition count will be value
    repDict = { }

    for ch in InputStr :

        # when character ch has been already read & stored in dictionary and is being repeated ,we increase its repititon count by 1
        if repDict.has_key( ch ) :
            repDict[ ch ] +=1

        # when character ch is read for first time , we set its repetition count to 0
        else :
            repDict[ch] = 0

    # print(repDict)
    # use repDict to return sorted string and total number of duplicate characters
    rep_count = sum( repDict.values( ) )

    result_keys = repDict.keys( )
    # sort result_key to sort characters
    result_keys.sort()

    result = ''
    for key in result_keys :
        result += key
    # print(rep_count)
    # print(result)

    return ( result , rep_count)

if __name__ == "__main__" :

    print (remove_duplicates( 'aaabbbac' ) )

    print (remove_duplicates( 'ccbbaabaabbcef' ) )
    print( remove_duplicates( '' ))