Code Golf: Print the entire "12 Days of Christmas" song in the fewest lines of code.

Question

Print all 12 verses of the popular holiday song.

By 12 verses I mean the repetition of each line as is sung in the song, ie

Verse One: On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree.

Verse Two On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.

...

Verse N: On the nth day of Christmas my true love gave to me (Verse N-1 without the first line) (line added in verse N)

Answer 1

Common Lisp:

(mapc #'princ
      (reverse (maplist #'(lambda(l)
      (format nil 
            "On the ~:R day of Christmas my true love gave to me~%~{~a~%~}~%" 
                (length l) l)) 
 '("twelve drummers drumming,"
   "eleven pipers piping,"
   "ten lords a-leaping,"
   "nine ladies dancing,"
   "eight maids a-milking,"
   "seven swans a-swimming,"
   "six geese a-laying,"
   "five gold rings,"
   "four calling birds,"
   "three french hens,"
   "two turtle doves, and"
   "a partridge in a pear tree."))))

Edit:

Above is 412 characters if you take out the whitespace.

This one:

(let ((g))
  (dotimes (i 12)
    (format t
        "On the ~:R day of Christmas my true love gave to me~%~{~R ~:*~
         ~[~;~;turtle doves and~;french hens,~;calling birds,~;gold rings,~
         ~;geese a-laying,~;swans a-swimming,~;maids a-milking,~
         ~;ladies dancing,~;lords a-leaping,~;pipers piping,~
         ~;drummers drumming,~]~%~}a partridge in a pear tree~2%"
        (1+ i) g)
    (push (+ i 2) g)))

is 344 characters if you take out whitespace and ~ quoted newlines in the format string:

(let((g))(dotimes(i 12)(format t"On the ~:R day of Christmas my true love gave to me~%~{~R ~:*~[~;~;turtle doves and~;french hens,~;calling birds,~;gold rings,~;geese a-laying,~;swans a-swimming,~;maids a-milking,~;ladies dancing,~;lords a-leaping,~;pipers piping,~;drummers drumming,~]~%~}a partridge in a pear tree~2%"(1+ i)g)(push(+ i 2)g)))

Edit:

It looks like the question has run its course, and the site is nagging me to accept an answer. As far as I can see, this one is the shortest. I'm a little afraid of what the site will do if I accept my own answer - probably award me a Narcissist or Masturbator badge.

You can't accept your own answers. Fair enough. I'll leave it open. Thanks to everyone who responded.

Answer 2

C#:

string[] s = new string[]{
    "a partridge in a pear tree.",
    "two turtle doves, and ",
    "three french hens, ",
    "four calling birds, ",
    "five gold rings, ",
    "six geese a-laying, ",
    "seven swans a-swimming, ",
    "eight maids a-milking, ",
    "nine ladies dancing, ",
    "ten lords a-leaping, ",
    "eleven pipers piping, ",
    "twelve drummers drumming, "
    };
string t = "";
for (int x = 0; x < s.Length; x++) {
    t = s[x] + t;
    Console.Write("On the " 
      + (x + 1).ToString() 
      + (x == 0 ? "st" : (x == 1 ? "nd" : (x == 2 ? "rd" : "th"))) 
      + " day of christmas, my true love gave to me: " + t + "\n");
}

574 chars, not counting indenting. Adds some extra chars in getting the number extensions right. Can probably be improved on quite a bit, though.

Answer 3

C#

     string[] days = new string[] {"First", 
    "Second", "Third", "Fourth", "Fifth", "Sixth", 
    "Seventh", "Eighth", "Ninth", "Tenth", "Eleventh", "Twelfth"};

    string[] presents = new string[] {"a partridge in a pear tree.",
    "two turtle doves, and",
    "three french hens,", 
    "four calling birds,", 
    "five gold rings,", 
    "six geese a-laying,", 
    "seven swans a-swimming,", 
    "eigth maids a-milking,", 
    "nine ladies dancing,", 
    "ten lords a-leaping,", 
    "eleven pipers piping,", 
    "twelve drummers drumming,"};

     int cnt =0;
     foreach (string s in presents)
     {
           Console.WriteLine(string.Format("On the {0} day of Christmas my true love gave to me", days[cnt++]));
           foreach (string p in presents.Take(cnt).Reverse())
                Console.WriteLine(p);
           Console.WriteLine(System.Environment.NewLine);
     }

Answer 4

I can't beat the Lisp version, but it's still fun.

The Delphi version:

procedure TheTwelfDaysOfChristmas(const AVerse: TStrings);
const 
  cPresentList : array[1..12] of string = (
    'a partridge in a pear tree',
    'two turtle doves, and ',
    'three french hens, ',
    'four calling birds, ',
    'five gold rings, ',
    'six geese a-laying, ',
    'seven swans a-swimming, ',
    'eigth maids a-milking, ',
    'nine ladies dancing, ',
    'ten lords a-leaping, ',
    'eleven pipers piping, ',
    'twelve drummers drumming, '
  );
  cTime : array[1..12] of string = (
    'first',
    'second',
    'third',
    'fourth',
    'fifth',
    'sixth',
    'seventh',
    'eighth',
    'nineth',
    'tenth',
    'eleventh',
    'twelfth'
  );
var
  present : string;
  i       : Integer;

begin
  present := '';
  for i := 1 to 12 do begin
    present := cPresentList[i] + present;
    AVerse.Add(Format('On the %s day of Christmas my true love gave me %s.',
      [cTime[i], present]));
  end;
end;

By the way, for all of you, Happy holidays and great programming in 2009.

Answer 5

Not mine, but interesting...

This is a well-known example from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obfuscated_code (author: James O. Coplien):

#include <stdio.h>
main(t,_,a)char *a;{return!0<t?t<3?main(-79,-13,a+main(-87,1-_,
main(-86,0,a+1)+a)):1,t<_?main(t+1,_,a):3,main(-94,-27+t,a)&&t==2?_<13?
main(2,_+1,"%s %d %d\n"):9:16:t<0?t<-72?main(_,t,
"@n'+,#'/*{}w+/w#cdnr/+,{}r/*de}+,/*{*+,/w{%+,/w#q#n+,/#{l,+,/n{n+,/+#n+,/#\
;#q#n+,/+k#;*+,/'r :'d*'3,}{w+K w'K:'+}e#';dq#'l \
q#'+d'K#!/+k#;q#'r}eKK#}w'r}eKK{nl]'/#;#q#n'){)#}w'){){nl]'/+#n';d}rw' i;# \
){nl]!/n{n#'; r{#w'r nc{nl]'/#{l,+'K {rw' iK{;[{nl]'/w#q#n'wk nw' \
iwk{KK{nl]!/w{%'l##w#' i; :{nl]'/*{q#'ld;r'}{nlwb!/*de}'c \
;;{nl'-{}rw]'/+,}##'*}#nc,',#nw]'/+kd'+e}+;#'rdq#w! nr'/ ') }+}{rl#'{n' ')# \
}'+}##(!!/")
:t<-50?_==*a?putchar(31[a]):main(-65,_,a+1):main((*a=='/')+t,_,a+1)
  :0<t?main(2,2,"%s"):*a=='/'||main(0,main(-61,*a,
"!ek;dc i@bK'(q)-[w]*%n+r3#l,{}:\nuwloca-O;m .vpbks,fxntdCeghiry"),a+1);}

"Although unintelligible at first glance, it is a legal C program that when compiled and run will generate the 12 verses of The 12 Days of Christmas. It contains all the strings required for the poem in an encoded form inlined in the code. The code iterates through the 12 days displaying what it needs to."

It won't win golf though, it is about 830 bytes.

Answer 6

Ruby. I think this is pretty concise (the hard work is all on one line):

days = %w{First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eighth Ninth Tenth Eleventh Twelfth}

presents = [
    "twelve drummers drumming",
    "eleven pipers piping",
    "ten lords a leaping",
    "nine ladies dancing",
    "eight maids a-milking",
    "seven swans a-swimming",
    "six geese a-laying",
    "five gold rings",
    "four calling birds",
    "three french hens",
    "two turtle doves, and",
    "a partridge in a pear tree"
    ]

0.upto(11) { |i| 
    puts "On the #{days[i]} of Christmas my true love gave to me " + presents.last(i+1).join(", ")
}

Answer 7

Using F#:

#light
open System.Net; open System.Text.RegularExpressions
printf "%s" ((new WebClient()).DownloadString("http://www.textfiles.com/holiday/12-bugs")
    |> (fun x -> (new Regex("Lines: \d+\s+([\s\S]+)--")).Match(x).Groups.[1].Value))

Twelth day outputs:

For the twelfth bug of Christmas, my manager said to me
     Tell them it's a feature
     Say it's not supported
     Change the documentation
     Blame it on the hardware
     Find a way around it
     Say they need an upgrade
     Reinstall the software
     Ask for a dump
     Run with the debugger
     Try to reproduce it
     Ask them how they did it and
     See if they can do it again.

Answer 8

Using Template Toolkit

perl -MTemplate -e 'Template->new()->process("12dayxmas.tt")'

12dayxmas.tt

[%
  list = [
    { day => 'first',    item => 'A partridge in a pear tree.'},
    { day => 'second',   item => 'Two turtle doves, and '},
    { day => 'third',    item => 'Three french hens, '},
    { day => 'fourth',   item => 'Four calling birds, '},
    { day => 'fifth',    item => 'Five gold rings, '},
    { day => 'sixth',    item => 'Six geese a-laying, '},
    { day => 'seventh',  item => 'Seven swans a-swimming, '},
    { day => 'eighth',   item => 'Eight maids a-milking, '},
    { day => 'nineth',   item => 'Nine ladies dancing, '},
    { day => 'tenth',    item => 'Ten lords a-leaping, '},
    { day => 'eleventh', item => 'Eleven pipers piping, '},
    { day => 'twelfth',  item => 'Twelve drummers drumming, '}
  ];
-%]
[%
  FOREACH list;
  present = item _ present;
-%]
On the [% day %] day of Christmas my true love gave me [% present %]

[% END %]

Answer 9

Perl.

use Lingua::EN::Numbers qw(num2en_ordinal);
print 'On the ', num2en_ordinal($_+1),' day of Christmas my true love gave to me, ', reverse(( split /\|/, "a partridge in a pear tree.\n|two turtle doves, and |three french hens, |four calling birds, |five gold rings, |six geese a-laying, |seven swans a-swimming, |eight maids a-milking, |nine ladies dancing, |ten lords a leaping, |eleven pipers piping, |twelve drummers drumming, ")[ 0 .. $_ ]) for 0 .. 11;

( 459 Chars )

I wanted to make it a bit nicer and expressive, but this is a golf challenge.

This style violates proper coding standards somewhat. But that's golf for you.

Lingua::EN::Number

Here's the less compact version with less sneaky tricks.

use Lingua::EN::Numbers qw(num2en_ordinal);
my @gifts = (
    'a partridge in a pear tree.',
    'two turtle doves, and ',
    'three french hens, ',
    'four calling birds, ',
    'five gold rings, ',
    'six geese a-laying, ',
    'seven swans a-swimming, ',
    'eight maids a-milking, ',
    'nine ladies dancing, ',
    'ten lords a leaping, ',
    'eleven pipers piping, ',
    'twelve drummers drumming, '
);
for my $verse_id ( 0 .. $#gifts ) {
    printf 'On the %s day of Christmas my true love gave to me, ', num2en_ordinal($verse_id +1);
    print reverse @verse[ 0 .. $verse_id ];
    print "\n";
}

Answer 10

Here's a PHP solution:

$day = Array('first','second','third','fourth','fifth','sixth','seventh',
             'eighth','ninth','tenth','eleventh','twelfth');
$gifts = Array('Twelve drummers drumming,',
               'Eleven pipers piping,',
               'Ten lords a-leaping,',
               'Nine ladies dancing,',
               'Eight maids a-milking,',
               'Seven swans a-swimming,',
               'Six geese a-laying,',
               'FIVE GOLDEN RINGS,',
               'Four calling birds,',
               'Three French hens,',
               'Two turtle doves, and',
               'A partridge in a pear tree');

for ($i = 0; $i < 12; ++$i) {
    printf("On the $day[$i] of Christmas my true love gave to me\n" . 
         implode("\n", array_slice($gifts,-($i+1))) . "\n\n");
}

Answer 11

Ruby

a=["and a partridge in a pear tree","turtle doves","French hens","calling birds","golden rings","geese a-laying","swans a-swimming","maids a-milking","ladies dancing","lords a-leaping","pipers piping","drummers drumming"]     
b=["","two","three","four","five","six","seven","eight","nine","ten","eleven","twelve"]
c=["first","second","third","fourth","fifth","sixth","seventh","eighth","nineth","tenth","eleventh","twelfth"]
0.upto(11){|d|puts "On the "+c[d]+" day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:\n"+b[d]+" "+a[d]+",";(d-1).downto(0){|e| f=", ";f = "." if e==0;puts b[e]+" "+a[e]+f;}}

Total: 593bytes using UNIX LF.

Answer 12

h

In my made-up language where the command h prints "Hello, World!". Oh wait, you mean that's not what we're talking about?

Answer 13

class TrueLove: ITrueLove 
{
  List<IPresent> give(int day) 
  {
    List<IPresent> lovesLabourLost = new List<IPresent>();

    //if this was C++ could you replace this with a Figgy Duff Device?
    for (int i=1; i<=day; i++)
    {
      if(day > 1 && i<=2) {lovesLabourLost .Add(new TurtleDove());}
      if(day > 2 && i<=3) {lovesLabourLost .Add(new FrenchHen());}
      if(day > 3 && i<=4) {lovesLabourLost .Add(new CallingBird());}
      if(day > 4 && i<=5) {lovesLabourLost .Add(new GOLDRING());}
      if(day > 5 && i<=6) {lovesLabourLost .Add(new LayingGeese());}
      if(day > 6 && i<=7) {lovesLabourLost .Add(new SwimmingSwan());}
      if(day > 7 && i<=8) {lovesLabourLost .Add(new MilikingMaid());}
      if(day > 8 && i<=9) {lovesLabourLost .Add(new DancingLady());}
      if(day > 9 && i<=10) {lovesLabourLost .Add(new LeapingLord());}
      if(day > 10 && i<=11) {lovesLabourLost .Add(new PipingPiper());}
      if(day > 11 && i<=12) {lovesLabourLost .Add(new DrummingDrummer());}
    }

    return lovesLabourLost && (new PartridgeInPearTree());
  }
}

static class Me: IDemanding
{
  static ITrueLove myTrueLove = new TrueLove();

  static List<IPresent> myPresents = new List<IPresent>();

  static void demandPresents()
  {
    for (int i=1; i<=daysOfChristmas; i++)
    {
      List<IPresent> MOAR = myTrueLove.give(i);

      foreach (IPresent another in MOAR)
      {
        myPresents.Add(another);
      }
    }
  }
}

const int daysOfChristmas = 12;

Me.demandPresents();

Answer 14

VB.Net - 530 Chars (no spaces), 634 (spaces)

Module ChristmasSong
    Sub Main()
        Dim i&, f$ : Dim d$() = {"first", "second", "third", "fourth", "fifth", "sixth", "seventh", "eighth", "ninth", "tenth", "eleventh", "twelfth"}, g$() = {"a partridge in a pear tree.", "two turtle doves, and ", "three french hens, ", "four calling birds, ", "five gold rings, ", "six geese a-laying, ", "seven swans a-swimming, ", "eigth maids a-milking, ", "nine ladies dancing, ", "ten lords a-leaping, ", "eleven pipers piping, ", "twelve drummers drumming, "}
        For i = 0 To 11 : f = g(i) & f : Console.WriteLine("On the {0} day of Christmas, my true love gave to me {1}", d(i), f) : Next
    End Sub
End Module

Answer 15

423 bytes with Lingua::EN::Number:

use Lingua::EN::Numbers qw/num2en num2en_ordinal/;
@l=map{($i++?num2en($i):'a')." $_"}split/\n/,<<"";
partridge in a pear tree
turtle doves, and
french hens
calling birds
gold rings
geese a-laying
swans a-swimming
maids a-milking
ladies dancing
lords a-leaping
pipers piping
drummers drumming

print"On the ".num2en_ordinal($_+1)
." day of Christmas, my true love gave to me ",
join(', ',reverse@l[0..$_]),"\n\n"for(0..11);

Or 480 bytes in perl without using Lingua::EN::Numbers:

@n=qw/first second third forth fifth sixth seventh eigth nineth tenth eleventh twelfth/;
@l=<DATA>;chomp@l;
print"On the $n[$_] day of Christmas, my true love gave to me ",
join(', ',reverse@l[0..$_]),"\n\n"for(0..11);
__DATA__
a partridge in a pear tree
two turtle doves, and 
three french hens
four calling birds 
five gold rings 
six geese a-laying
seven swans a-swimming
eight maids a-milking
nine ladies dancing
ten lords a-leaping
eleven pipers piping
twelve drummers drumming

It should be able to be reduced further since the numbers are very repetitive.

Answer 16

PHP

$g = array("a partridge in a pear tree.\n",
    "two turtle doves, and",
"three french hens,",
"four calling birds,",
"five gold rings,",
"six geese a-laying,",
"seven swans a-swimming,",
"eight maids a-milking,",
"nine ladies dancing,",
"ten lords a-leaping,",
"eleven pipers piping,",
"twelve drummers drumming,"
);
$d = array("first", "second", "third", "fourth", "fifth", "sixth",
 "seventh", "eighth", "nineth", "tenth", "eleventh", "twelfth");
foreach($d as $i=>$v){
    echo "On the $v day of Christmas my true love gave to me";
    for($j=$i;$j>=0;$j--) echo " ",$g[$j];
}

Answer 17

C#, 421 Characters

var t="";for(int i=0;i++<12;)Console.Write("On the {0}{1} day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: {2}\n",i,i<2?"st":i<3?"nd":i<4?"rd":"th",t="|a partridge in a pear tree.|two turtle doves, and |three french hens,|four calling birds,|five gold rings|six geese a-lay@seven swans a-swimm@eight maids a-milk@nine ladies danc@ten lords a-leap@eleven pipers pip@twelve drummers drumm@".Replace("@","ing,|").Split('|')[i]+t);

Spaced out version:

var t="";

for(int i = 0; i++ < 12;)
    Console.Write("On the {0}{1} day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: {2}\n",
            i,
            i < 2 ? "st" : i < 3 ? "nd" : i < 4 ? "rd" : "th",
            t="|a partridge in a pear tree.
               |two turtle doves, and 
               |three french hens,
               |four calling birds,
               |five gold rings
               |six geese a-lay
               @seven swans a-swimm
               @eight maids a-milk
               @nine ladies danc
               @ten lords a-leap
               @eleven pipers pip
               @twelve drummers drumm@"
            .Replace("@","ing,|")
            .Split('|')[i]+t);

Answer 18

Python (71+467 including whitespaces)

import sys
sys.path += ["TDOC.zip"]
import TDOC
TDOC.print_verse()

Where TDOC.zip (467 bytes) contains TDOC.py:

def print_verse(presents="""\
twelve drummers drumming,
eleven pipers piping,
ten lords a-leaping,
nine ladies dancing,
eigth maids a-milking,
seven swans a-swimming,
six geese a-laying,
five gold rings,
four calling birds,
three french hens,
two turtle doves, and
a partridge in a pear tree.""".split("\n")):
    if presents: 
        print_verse(presents[1:])

        number = presents[0].split(" ", 1)[0]
        print("On the %s day of Christmas my true love gave to me %s" % (
            dict(a="first", two="second", three="third", five="fifth").get(number, number+"th"),
            " ".join(presents)))

Answer 19

for d in range(12):print"On the %s day of Christmas, my true love gave to me\n\t%s\n"%("first|second|third|fourth|fifth|sixth|seventh|eighth|ninth|tenth|eleventh|twelfth".split("|")[d],"\n\t".join("twelve drummers drumming|eleven pipers piping|ten lords a-leaping|nine ladies dancing|eight maids a-milking|seven swans a-swimming|six geese a-laying|five gold rings|four calling birds|three french hens|two turtle doves and|a partridge in a pear tree.".split("|")[11-d:]))

Python, 422 chars

Answer 20

here are some different ways for C#

List<string> lines = new List<string>(new string[]{
    "twelve drummers drumming,\n\r"
    , "eleven pipers piping,\n\r"
    , "ten lords a-leaping,\n\r"
    , "nine ladies dancing,\n\r"
    , "eigth maids a-milking,\n\r"
    , "seven swans a-swimming,\n\r"
    , "six geese a-laying,\n\r"
    , "five gold rings,\n\r"
    , "four calling birds,\n\r"
    , "three french hens,\n\r"
    , "two turtle doves, and \n\r"
    , "a partridge in a pear tree."
    });

string[] day = {
    "first"
    ,"second"
    ,"thrid"
    ,"forth"
    ,"fifth"
    ,"six"
    ,"seventh"
    ,"eigth"
    ,"ninth"
    ,"tenth"
    ,"eleventh"
    ,"twelth"
    };


for (int i = 0; i < 12; i++)
    Console.WriteLine(string.Format("On the {0} day of christmas, my true love gave to me\n\r{1}", day[i], string.Concat(lines.GetRange(11 - i, i + 1).ToArray())));

not nessarly nice. but its small. :)

Answer 21

Here's a Haskell version:

import Data.List
main=putStrLn$unlines$map(uncurry(\n->(++)("On the "++show n++case n of{1->"st";2->"nd";3->"rd";_->"th"}++" day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: ")))$zip[1..]$(\a->(drop 4$head a):tail a)$ map(intercalate", ".reverse)$tail$inits["and a partridge in a pair tree","two turtle doves","three french hens","four calling birds","five gold rings","six geese a-laying","seven swans a-swimming","eight maids a milking","nine ladies dancing","ten lords a-leaping","eleven pipers piping","twelve drummers drumming"]

It comes in at 527 characters. Since without good spacing it's rather incomprehensible, here's a more spread-out version:

import Data.List
main = putStrLn
       $ unlines
       $ map (uncurry (\n -> (++) ("On the " ++ show n ++ case n of { 1 -> "st"; 2 -> "nd"; 3 -> "rd"; _ -> "th"} ++ " day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: ")))
       $ zip [1..]
       $ (\a -> (drop 4 $ head a) : tail a)
       $ tail
       $ map (intercalate ", " . reverse)
             (inits ["and a partridge in a pair tree", "two turtle doves", "three french hens", "four calling birds", "five gold rings", "six geese a-laying", "seven swans a-swimming", "eight maids a milking", "nine ladies dancing", "ten lords a-leaping", "eleven pipers piping", "twelve drummers drumming"])

Answer 22

Bash:

wget -qO- http://tinyurl.com/a3xw8b

I used the output of frizzer.myopenid.com's CLisp implementation as a start.

Answer 23

Console.WriteLine(File.ReadAllText("12daysxmas.txt"));

(It's good practise to keep string constants separate from code so you can translate them easily.)

Also here's my tribute on the forthcoming dynamic keyword in C# 4:

string lyric = "On day {0} of Christmas a dynamic gave to me {1} dynamics.";

int total = 0;
for (int day = 1; day <= 12; day++)
{
    total += day;
    Console.WriteLine(string.Format(lyric, day, total));
}

Console.WriteLine("I wonder what all these dynamics are? I guess I'll find out at runtime.");

Answer 24

Another C#

var l="a partridge in a pear tree.|two turtle doves, and|three french hens,|four calling birds,|five gold rings,|six geese a-laying,|seven swans a-swimming,|eight maids a-milking,|nine ladies dancing,|ten lords a-leaping,|eleven pipers piping,|twelve drummers drumming,".Split('|');

for (int i = 1; i < 13; i++)
    Console.Write(
        "On the {0}{2} day of christmas\rmy true love gave to me \r{1}\r\r", 
            i, 
            string.Join("\r", l.Take(i).Reverse().ToArray()), 
            (i==1?"st":i==2?"nd":i==3?"rd":"th"));

Borrowed heavily from previous answers (hey, code reuse) while adding extra savings.

481 characters once you take out unnecessary whitespace:

var l="a partridge in a pear tree.|two turtle doves, and|three french hens,|four calling birds,|five gold rings,|six geese a-laying,|seven swans a-swimming,|eight maids a-milking,|nine ladies dancing,|ten lords a-leaping,|eleven pipers piping,|twelve drummers drumming,".Split('|');for(int i=1;i<13;i++)Console.Write("On the {0}{2} day of christmas, my true love gave to me \r{1}\r\r",i,String.Join("\r",l.Take(i).Reverse().ToArray()),(i==1?"st":i==2?"nd":i==3?"rd":"th"));

Answer 25

Objective-C / Cocoa

NSArray *days = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:@"first", @"second", @"third", @"forth", 
                    @"fifth", @"six", @"seventh", @"eigth", 
                    @"ninth", @"tenth", @"eleventh", @"twelth", nil];

NSArray *gifts = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:
                    @"a partridge in a pear tree.\n\n",
                    @"two turtle doves, and\n",
                    @"three french hens,\n",
                    @"four calling birds,\n",                      
                    @"five gold rings,\n",
                    @"six geese a-laying,\n",
                    @"seven swans a-swimming,\n",
                    @"eigth maids a-milking,\n",                     
                    @"nine ladies dancing,\n",
                    @"ten lords a-leaping,\n",
                    @"eleven pipers piping,\n",    
                    @"twelve drummers drumming,\n",
                    nil];

NSMutableString *aggregator = [NSMutableString string];
for(int i = 0; i < 12; i++) {
    [aggregator insertString:[gifts objectAtIndex:i] atIndex:0];
    printf("on the %s day of xmas, my true love gave to me %s", [[days objectAtIndex:i] UTF8String], [aggregator UTF8String]);
}

Answer 26

26 bytes!..

As the URL implies, it may be considered.. cheating:

http://github.com/dbr/so_scripts/tree/master/golf_tdoc/cheating.bash

Answer 27

Linq to objects, in 580 characters (without whitespace)

Console.WriteLine(Enumerable.Range(1, 13).SelectMany(day =>
    Enumerable.Repeat("\nOn the " + day + 
                      (day == 1 ? "st" : 
                      (day == 2 ? "nd" : 
                      (day == 3 ? "rd" : 
                      "th"))) + " day of Christmas my true love gave to me ", 1)
              .Concat((new []
                {
                    "twelve drummers drumming,",
                    "eleven pipers piping,",
                    "ten lords a-leaping,",
                    "nine ladies dancing,",
                    "eight maids a-milking,",
                    "seven swans a-swimming,",
                    "six geese a-laying,",
                    "five gold rings,",
                    "four calling birds,",
                    "three french hens,",
                    "two turtle doves, and",
                    "a partridge in a pear tree."
                }).Reverse().Take(day).Reverse()))
              .Aggregate((a, b) => a + "\n" + b));

Answer 28

PHP: 375 characters

$v=split(":",":a partridge in a pear tree.\n:two turtle doves, and:three french hens:four calling birds:five gold rings:six geese a-lay:seven swans a-swimm:eigth maids a-milk:nine ladies danc:ten lords a-leap:eleven pipers pip:twelve drummers drumm");while($i<12){?>On the <?=date(jS,$i*86400)," day of Christmas my true love gave to me",$s=", ".$v[++$i].($i>5?'ing':'').$s;}

Edit: updated runnable version (377) characters

<?$v=split(":",":a partridge in a pear tree.\n:two turtle doves, and:three french hens:four calling birds:five gold rings:six geese a-lay:seven swans a-swimm:eigth maids a-milk:nine ladies danc:ten lords a-leap:eleven pipers pip:twelve drummers drumm");while($i<12){?>On the <?=date(jS,$i*86400)," day of Christmas my true love gave to me",$s=", ".$v[++$i].($i>5?'ing':'').$s;}

Answer 29

In the D programming language, using switch statement fall-through:

import std.stdio;

void main() {
    for(uint i = 1; i < 13; i++) {
        writeln("On the ", i, " day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:");
        switch(i) {
            case 12:
                writeln("twelve drummers drumming,");
            case 11:
                writeln("eleven pipers piping,");
            case 10:
                writeln("ten lords a-leaping,");
            case 9:
                writeln("nine ladies dancing,");
            case 8:
                writeln("eight maids a-milking,");
            case 7:
                writeln("seven swans a-swimming,");
            case 6:
                writeln("six geese a-laying,");
            case 5:
                writeln("five gold rings,");
            case 4:
                writeln("four calling birds,");
            case 3:
                writeln("three french hens,");
            case 2:
                writeln("two turtle doves, and");
            case 1:
                writeln("a partridge in a pear tree.\n");
        }
    }
}

Answer 30

How about one line! This is in C#.

Xmas(){Console.WriteLine("On the first day of Christmas,\r\nmy true love sent to me\r\nA partridge in a pear tree.\r\n\r\nOn the second day of Christmas,\r\nmy true love sent to me\r\nTwo turtle doves,\r\nAnd a partridge in a pear tree.\r\n\r\nOn the third day of Christmas,\r\nmy true love sent to me\r\nThree French hens,\r\nTwo turtle doves,\r\nAnd a partridge in a pear tree.\r\n\r\nOn the fourth day of Christmas,\r\nmy true love sent to me\r\nFour calling birds,\r\nThree French hens,\r\nTwo turtle doves,\r\nAnd a partridge in a pear tree.\r\n\r\nOn the fifth day of Christmas,\r\nmy true love sent to me\r\nFive golden rings,\r\nFour calling birds,\r\nThree French hens,\r\nTwo turtle doves,\r\nAnd a partridge in a pear tree.\r\n\r\nOn the sixth day of Christmas,\r\nmy true love sent to me\r\nSix geese a-laying,\r\nFive golden rings,\r\nFour calling birds,\r\nThree French hens,\r\nTwo turtle doves,\r\nAnd a partridge in a pear tree.\r\n\r\nOn the seventh day of Christmas,\r\nmy true love sent to me\r\nSeven swans a-swimming,\r\nSix geese a-laying,\r\nFive golden rings,\r\nFour calling birds,\r\nThree French hens,\r\nTwo turtle doves,\r\nAnd a partridge in a pear tree.\r\n\r\nOn the eighth day of Christmas,\r\nmy true, love sent to me\r\nEight maids a-milking,\r\nSeven swans a-swimming,\r\nSix geese a-laying,\r\nFive golden rings,\r\nFour calling birds,\r\nThree French hens,\r\nTwo turtle doves,\r\nAnd a partridge in a pear tree.\r\n\r\nOn the ninth day of Christmas,\r\nmy true love sent to me\r\nNine ladies dancing,\r\nEight maids a-milking,\r\nSeven swans a-swimming,\r\nSix geese a-laying,\r\nFive golden rings,\r\nFour calling birds,\r\nThree French hens,\r\nTwo turtle doves,\r\nAnd a partridge in a pear tree.\r\n\r\nOn the tenth day of Christmas,\r\nmy true love sent to me\r\nTen lords a-leaping,\r\nNine ladies dancing,\r\nEight maids a-milking,\r\nSeven swans a-swimming,\r\nSix geese a-laying,\r\nfive golden rings,\r\nFour calling birds,\r\nThree French hens,\r\nTwo turtle doves,\r\nAnd a partridge in a pear tree.\r\n\r\nOn the eleventh day of Christmas,\r\nmy true love sent to me\r\nEleven pipers piping,\r\nTen lords a-leaping,\r\nNine ladies dancing,\r\nEight maids a-milking,\r\nSeven swans a-swimming,\r\nSix geese a-laying\r\nFive golden rings,\r\nFour calling birds,\r\nThree French hens,\r\nTwo turtle doves,\r\nAnd a partridge in a pear tree.\r\n\r\nOn the twelfth day of Christmas,\r\nmy true love sent to me\r\nTwelve drummers drumming,\r\nEleven pipers piping,\r\nTen lords a-leaping,\r\nNine ladies dancing,\r\nEight maids a-milking,\r\nSeven swans a-swimming,\r\nSix geese a-laying,\r\nFive golden rings,\r\nFour calling birds,\r\nThree French hens,\r\nTwo turtle doves,\r\nAnd a partridge in a pear tree!");}

Answer 31

Didn't see any for Java (which isn't known for its minimal syntax btw) so first I made this

String g;
public void sing() {
 g = "";  
 for(Entry<?,?> e : mm("first", "a partridge in a pear tree",
        "second", "two turtle doves, and ",
        "third", "three french hens, ",
        "fourth", "four calling birds, ",
        "fifth", "five gold rings, ",
        "sixth", "six geese a-laying ",
        "seventh", "seven swans a-swimming, ",
        "eigth", "eight maids a-milking, ",
        "ninth", "nine ladies dancing, ",
        "tenth", "ten lords a-leaping, ",
        "eleventh", "eleven pipers piping, ",
        "twelfth", "twelve drummers drumming, ").entrySet()) {
  System.out.println("On the "+e.getKey()+
    " day of Christmas my true love gave to me "+e.getValue()+".");
 }
}

public Map<?,?> mm(String... s) {
 Map m = new LinkedHashMap();
 for(int i=0;i<s.length;i=i+2) {
  g = s[i+1] + g;
  m.put(s[i], g);
 }
 return m;
}

and realized it's rather complex (weighs 708 chars) so then I went for a more simpler solution (adapted from other answers, line changes only for readability):

public void sing() {
    String s = "";
    String[]d={"first","second","third","fourth",
        "fifth","sixth","seventh","eighth",
        "ninth","tenth","eleventh","twelfth"};
    String[]g={"a partridge in a pear tree",
        "two turtle doves, and ",
        "three french hens, ",
        "four calling birds, ",
        "five gold rings, ",
        "six geese a-laying ",
        "seven swans a-swimming, ",
        "eight maids a-milking, ",
        "nine ladies dancing, ",
        "ten lords a-leaping, ",
        "eleven pipers piping, ",
        "twelve drummers drumming, "};
    int i=0;
    while(i<12)
     System.out.println("On the "+d[i]+" day of Christmas my true love gave to me "+
   (s=g[i++]+s)+".");
}

which is 576 chars without whitespaces, if the method signature is switched to proper main() then it's 596.

If I had interest to make a third version, I'd try the enum trick too.

Answer 32

Ruby: 458 chars
(+ 4 newlines added to keep it under 80 columns)

n=%w{first second third fourth fifth sixth seventh eighth ninth tenth eleventh twelfth}
s=''
["a partridge in a pear tree","two turtle doves, and","three french hens",
"four calling birds","five gold rings","six geese a-laying","seven swans a-swimming",
"eight maids a-milking","nine ladies dancing","ten lords a leaping",
"eleven pipers piping","twelve drummers drumming"].map{|p|
puts "On the #{n.pop} day of Christmas my true love gave to me: "+(s=p+', '+s)}

Answer 33

In C++ you'd

std::cout << boost::12_days_of_christmas;

Answer 34

C#: 395 chars (not including whitespace...)

for (var x = 0; x++ < 12; )
    Console.Write(
        "On the {0} day of Christmas,\nMy true love gave to me\n{1}\n\n",
        x + (x < 2 ? "st" : x < 3 ? "nd" : x < 4 ? "rd" : "th"),
        String.Join(
            "\n",
            "a partridge in a pear tree.|turtle doves and|french hens|calling birds|gold rings|geese a-laying|swans a-swimming|maids a-milking|ladies dancing|lords a-leaping|pipers piping|drummers drumming"
                .Split('|').Take(x).Select((y, i) => (i > 0 ? (i + 1) + " " : "") + y).Reverse().ToArray()
        )
    );

Answer 35

Here's an erlang version (~586 chars):

-module (xmas).
-export ([xmas/0]).
xmas() ->
 W = ["twelve drummers drumming, ",
 "eleven pipers piping, ",
 "ten lords a-leaping, ",
 "nine ladies dancing, ",
 "eight maids a-milking, ",
 "seven swans a-swimming, ",
 "six geese a-laying, ",
 "five gold rings, ",
 "four calling birds, ",
 "three french hens, ",
 "two turtle doves, and ",
 "a partridge in a pear tree."],
 io:format(lists:foldl(
 fun(X,Acc) -> Acc ++ X ++ "~n" end, "",
 ["On the " ++ day_str(Q) ++ 
 " day of Christmas, my true love gave me " ++ 
 lists:foldl(
  fun(X,Acc)-> Acc++X end,
  "", lists:nthtail(12-Q,W)) || 
  Q <- lists:seq(1,12)]),[]).
day_str(Q) ->
 case Q of
  1 -> "1st";
  2 -> "2nd";
  3 -> "3rd";
  N -> erlang:integer_to_list(N,10) ++ "th"
 end.

Answer 36

Java, based on Esko's second solution:

class C{
    public static void main(String[]d){
        String s="";
        d="first1second1third1fourth1fifth1sixth1seventh1eighth1ninth1tenth1eleventh1twelfth".split("1");
        String[]g="a partridge in a pear tree1two turtle doves,\nand 1three french hens,\n1four calling birds,\n1five gold rings,\n1six geese a-laying\n1seven swans a-swimming,\n1eight maids a-milking,\n1nine ladies dancing,\n1ten lords a-leaping,\n1eleven pipers piping,\n1twelve drummers drumming,\n".split("1");
        for(int i=0;i<12;)
            System.out.println("On the "+d[i]+" day of Christmas my true love gave to me:\n"+
                    (s=g[i++]+s)+".\n");
    }
}

If I counted correctly, that's 579 characters (not counting indentation and newlines). And this one is completely runnable, and doesn't print each verse on one line. The output is:

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
a partridge in a pear tree.

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
two turtle doves, and
a partridge in a pear tree.

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
three french hens,
two turtle doves, and
a partridge in a pear tree.

...

---

EDIT: Slightly improved version, based on balabaster's idea of replacing a common string with one character:

class C{
    public static void main(String[]d){
        String s="";
        d="first1second1third1fourth1fifth1sixth1seventh1eighth1ninth1tenth1eleventh1twelfth".split("1");
        String[]g="a partridge in a pear tree1two turtle doves,\nand 1three french hens,\n1four calling birds,\n1five gold rings,\n1six geese a-lay#seven swans a-swimm#eight maids a-milk#nine ladies danc#ten lords a-leap#eleven pipers pip#twelve drummers drumm#".replace("#","ing,\n1").split("1");
        for(int i=0;i<12;)
            System.out.println("On the "+d[i]+" day of Christmas my true love gave to me:\n"+
                (s=g[i++]+s)+".\n");
    }
}

It's now down to 562 chars (even though I added a comma that I'd missed before).

Answer 37

A C/C++ version using a single buffer and pointer arithmetic. A single include, one declaration and technically only two lines of code in main to do the printing:

#include <stdio.h>

char *days =
    "twelve drummers drumming,  \n"
    "eleven pipers piping,      \n"
    "ten lords a-leaping,       \n"
    "nine ladies dancing,       \n"
    "eight maids a-milking,     \n"
    "seven swans a-swimming,    \n"
    "six geese a-laying,        \n"
    "five gold rings,           \n"
    "four calling birds,        \n"
    "three french hens,         \n"
    "two turtle doves, and      \n"
    "a partridge in a pear tree.\n\n";

void main()
{
    for (int i = 1; i <= 12; i++)
     printf("On the %d%s day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:\n%s",
       i,i == 1 ? "st" : (i == 2 ? "nd" : "th"), days + (12-i)*28);
}

Answer 38

Pretty straightforward solution in C++:

#include <iostream.h>
char*a[]={"a partridge in a pear tree.\n","two turtle doves, and","three french hens,","four calling birds,","five gold rings,","six geese a-laying,","seven swans a-swimming,","eight maids a-milking,","nine ladies dancing,","ten lords a-leaping,","eleven pipers piping,","twelve drummers drumming,"};
char*b[]={"first","second","third","fourth","fifth","sixth","seventh","eighth","nineth","tenth","eleventh", "twelfth"};
int main(){for(int i=0;i<12;i++){std::cout<<"On the "<<b[i]<<" day of Christmas my true love gave to me, \n";for(int j=i;j>=0;j--)std::cout<<a[j]<<" \n";}}

595 characters, though it could be reduced to 513 characters if you allow the "1st, 2nd, 3rd" etc notation that some have used.

Answer 39

LUA 540 (without tabs & returns)

t={"twelve drummers drumming,","eleven pipers piping,","ten lords a-leaping,","nine ladies dancing,","eight maids a-milking,","seven swans a-swimming,","six geese a-laying,","five gold rings,","four calling birds,","three french hens,","two turtle doves, and","a partridge in a pear tree."} 

f=function(i) 
    r=i.."th" 
    if (i==1) then r=i.."st" 
    elseif (i==2) then r=i.."nd" 
    elseif (i==3) then r=i.."rd" 
    end 
    return r 
end 

for i=1,12 do 
    s="On the "..f(i).." day of Christmas my true love gave to me" 
    for j=13-i,12 do 
     s=s.." "..t[j] 
    end 
    print(s) 
end

Unfortunately we don't have a string to array function or a way to do "first" via the date library. Runs correctly at http://www.lua.org/cgi-bin/demo

Answer 40

Python, 436 chars

(443 including optional newlines)

print """
eJzlk91xxCAMhN9TxRZwSRMp4GpQjGw04ccDunOu+wjcgMkkk8vlxRjQst9q4JygnjFLqQpHN+QZ
r75I1UgV8QYtF0bIV8ZC9tGMyCCsVLSIWxiS2pSpWCnzy9N5P7HylJM7fqRuGXopGhjOtuoJZPID
RuqljPh4E2MunCYPz8mMvmw9Z1P5496tHhOFIGnBm2E38+/kkXkIR9o8B4diQGbz03xVPkb4rBwL
c7X79hzoZlCnX2DmK6ch6iZA3ShV466bxNjJ7yINy6J+JE0XIJK4liZKeN/D3HPIJIlHMrZ6BHLC
1URp6tR/MbiO3VQrt7XSAwamtUM/TDM4jL7cXYFVVi61DR38sbukG4fr0GvZFXDlEmPrU//Z8/+j
/n0CsHRGTA==
""".decode("base64").decode("zlib")

Answer 41

Even though it's been over for a while, I still like to try out these code golf challenges...

Best I could do with MATLAB: 383 chars (after removing whitespace and line continuation symbols)

a = {'twelve drummers drumming';...
     'eleven pipers piping';...
     'ten lords a-leaping';...
     'nine ladies dancing';...
     'eight maids a-milking';...
     'seven swans a-swimming';...
     'six geese a-laying';...
     'five gold rings';...
     'four calling birds';...
     'three french hens';...
     'two turtle doves and';...
     'a partridge in a pear tree.';’’};
b = {'st','nd','rd','th'};
for i = 1:12,...
  disp(char(['On the ',num2str(i),b{min(i,4)},...
             ' day of Christmas my true love gave to me'],...
            a{13-i:13}));...
end

Answer 42

Here's a Javascript version. The best I could do was 497 characters when compressed.

s = "", k = "ing, ", t = [":first:a:partridge in a pear tree", 
                ":second:two:turtle doves, and ", 
                "th:ird:ree:french hens, ",
                "four:th::calling birds, ", 
                "fi:fth:ve:gold rings, ", 
                "six:th::geese a-lay" + k,
                "seven:th::swans a-swimm" + k,
                "eight:h::maids a-milk" + k,
                "nin:th:e:ladies danc" + k, 
                "ten:th::lords a-leap" + k,
                "eleven:th::pipers pip" + k,
                "twel:fth:ve:drummers drumm"]

for (i = 0; i < 12; i++)
    document.write("On the " + (v = t[i].split(":"))[0] + v[1]
                    + " day of Christmas my true love gave to me "
                    + (s = v[0] + v[2] + " " + v[3] + s) + "<p>")



s="",k="ing, ",t=[":first:a:partridge in a pear tree",":second:two:turtle doves, and ","th:ird:ree:french hens, ","four:th::calling birds, ","fi:fth:ve:gold rings, ","six:th::geese a-lay"+k,"seven:th::swans a-swimm"+k,"eight:h::maids a-milk"+k,"nin:th:e:ladies danc"+k,"ten:th::lords a-leap"+k,"eleven:th::pipers pip"+k,"twel:fth:ve:drummers drumm"];for(i=0;i<12;i++)document.write("On the "+(v=t[i].split(":"))[0]+v[1]+" day of Christmas my true love gave to me "+(s=v[0]+v[2]+" "+v[3]+s)+"<p>")

Answer 43

This isn't going to win, but here's my Java version (compilable and runnable) in 576 characters.

class T{enum D{first,second,third,fourth,fifth,sixth,seventh,eighth,ninth,tenth,eleventh,twelfth}public static void main(String[] args){String o="",s="s, ",i="ing, ";String t[]={"a partridge in a pear tree","two turtle doves, and ","three french hen"+s,"four calling bird"+s,"five gold ring"+s,"six geese a-lay"+i,"seven swans a-swimm"+i,"eight maids a-milk"+i,"nine ladies danc"+i,"ten lords a-leap"+i,"eleven pipers pip"+i,"twelve drummers drumm"+i};int j=0;while(j<12)System.out.println("On the "+D.values()[j]+" day of Christmas my true love gave to me "+(o=t[j++]+o));}}

Answer 44

Isn't this included in the F# powerpack somewhere... :)

Answer 45

LilyPond, 340 characters (shorter than Common Lisp)

'Tis the season! (And rather fitting, given that LilyPond is primarily used to typeset music... One can easily adapt this code to produce sheet music for the song in addition to just the lyrics.)

Adapted from fizzer's solution.

#(map(lambda(x)(format #t"On the ~:R day of Christmas my true love gave to me~{ ~R~:*~[~;~;turtle doves and~;French hens,~;calling birds,~;gold rings,~;geese a-laying,~;swans a-swimming,~;maids a-milking,~;ladies dancing,~;lords a-leaping,~;pipers piping,~;drummers drumming,~]~} a partridge in a pear tree.
"x(iota(1- x)x -1)))(iota 12 1))

Usage: $ lilypond thisfile.ly

This version, in 341 characters, matches fizzer's output exactly, but is three bytes shorter:

#(map(lambda(x)(format #t"On the ~:R day of Christmas my true love gave to me~{
~R ~:*~[~;~;turtle doves and~;french hens,~;calling birds,~;gold rings,~;geese a-laying,~;swans a-swimming,~;maids a-milking,~;ladies dancing,~;lords a-leaping,~;pipers piping,~;drummers drumming,~]~}
a partridge in a pear tree

"x(iota(1- x)x -1)))(iota 12 1))

Answer 46

Stumbled on this thread and it looked like so much fun I couldn't resist - here's another JavaScript version - it's not the shortest but I like the way it uses recursion and closure inside of a loop.

(function(){
    var v = [
        {d:'first', p:'a partridge in a pear tree'},
        {d:'second', p:'two turtle doves, and '},
        {d:'third', p:'three french hens, '},
        {d:'fourth', p:'four calling birds, '},
        {d:'fifth', p:'five gold rings, '}, 
        {d:'sixth', p:'six geese a-laying, '}, 
        {d:'seventh', p:'seven swans a-swimming, '},
        {d:'eighth', p:'eight maids a-milking, '},
        {d:'ninth', p:'nine ladies dancing, '}, 
        {d:'tenth', p:'ten lords a-leaping, '},
        {d:'eleveth', p:'eleven pipers piping, '},
        {d:'twelth', p:'twelve drummers drumming, '}
    ];
    for (var i=0;i<12;i++)
    {
        document.write('On the '+v[i].d+' day of Christmas my true love gave to me ');
        (function(i){
            document.write(v[i].p);
            if (i>0)
            {
                arguments.callee(--i);
            }
        })(i);
        document.write('.<p>');
    }
})();