Programming challenge: can you code a hello world program as a Palindrome?

Question

So the puzzle is to write a hello world program in your language of choice, where the program's source file as a string has to be a palindrome.

To be clear, the output has to be exactly "Hello, World".

---

Edit:

Well, with comments it seems trivial (not that I thought of it myself of course [sigh].. hat tip to cobbal).

So new rule: no comments.

---

Edit:

I feel kind of bad editing someone else's question to say this, but it will eliminate a lot of non-palindromes that keep popping up, and I'm tired of seeing the same simple mistake over and over.

The following is NOT a palindrome:

()()

The following IS a palindrome:

())(

Brackets, parenthesis, and anything else that must match are a major barrier to palindrome-ing, yes, but that doesn't mean you can ignore them and post non-palindrome answers.

---

Languages represented thus far:

C, C++, Bash, elisp, C#, Perl, sh, Windows shell, Java, Common Lisp, Awk, Ruby, Brainfuck, Funge, Python, Machine Language, HQ9+, Assembly, TCL, J, php, Haskell, io, TeX, APL, Javascript, mIRC Script, Basic, Orc, Fortran, Unlambda, Pseudo-code, Befunge, CFML, Lua, INTERCAL, VBScript, HTML, sed, PostScript, GolfScript, REBOL, SQL

Answer 1

If I write a normal hello world in c++ without comments or newlines and append a '/', then I have the first half of a working palindromatic program...

Ah, the #include causes a small problem

---

Like this:

#include <iostream>//
int main(void){std::cout<<"Hello, world!"<<std::endl;}/

Answer 2

cheating by comments in a shell script of your choice (bash for me)

echo 'hello world' # 'dlrow olleh' ohce

Edit:

And using the preprocessor in c you can use

#define foo fidne#
#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    printf("hello world\n");
}

#if 0
0 fi#
}
;)"n\dlrow olleh"(ftnirp    
{ )(niam tni

>h.oidts< edilcni#
#endif oof enifed#

Edit: updated C code to remove all warnings in gcc (still one in Comeau though)
updated C code to be palindrome (thanks Can Berk Güder)

Edit:

And the simple, elegant, elisp solution

(message "%s" "hello world")'("dlrow olleh" "s%" egassem)

Although this is not a strict palindrome as I had to reverse parens

Answer 3

Surprise surprise, Jon Skeet has done that ;-)

Answer 4

Well, easy if you allow comments.

Just (pseudo-code for any language):

program-that-prints-hello-world // dlrow-olleh-strnirp-taht-margorp

Of course, if you disallow comments, then it becomes much harder.

Here's a C# version:

class P { static void Main() { System.Console.WriteLine("Hello world"); } } //
} };)"dlrow olleH"(eniLetirW.elosnoC.metsyS { )(niaM diov citats { P ssalc

Just put everything on the second line after // with a space in front.

Answer 5

C++

Not sure if this is considered cheating or not :P

int main() //
{ // }
  // ;0 nruter
  printf("Hello, World"); // ;)"dlroW, olleH"(ftnirp
  return 0; //
} // {
// )(niam tni

Answer 6

Perl:

print + "Hello, World\n";"n\dlroW ,olleH" + tnirp

Answer 7

(println "Hello, World!") ; )"!dlroW ,olleH" nltnirp(

I cheat.

Answer 8

Help. I got this far in C++ (using macros). So I'm posting this as a wiki and welcoming help.

#define x // fidne# 

#include <iostream>
int main() { std::cout << "Hello, World\n"; }
#ifdef N
N fedfi#
} ;"n\dlroW ,olleH" << touc::dts { )(niam tni
>maertsoi< edulcni#

#endif // x

Answer 9

That should work on most shells (sh, bash and (thanks to Paulius Maruška) even in Windows ;-) ):

echo Hello World || dlroW olleH ohce

proof (the key is the lazy evaluation if echo Hello World succeeds, which does):

$ echo Hello World || dlroW olleH ohce
Hello World

Another one in sh/bash:

   alias dlroW=true saila=true
echo Hello World;dlroW olleH ohce
   eurt=alias eurt=World saila

EDIT: My old one (in bash, too) was not correct:

cat <(echo Hello World >&2;2&> dlroW olleH ohce)< tac

is no palindrome since the brackets are the wrong way and it needs a file called tac in the actual directory.

Answer 10

Write in "in your language of choice" leaves a pretty big hole. My language of choice for this problem is a home-brew language consisting of one command. So here is the code calling that one command:

HelloolleH

Of course what that command does is print Hello World.

Answer 11

Here's what I have so far in Java:

//}
;class tni
/*//;"*/{ public static void main(String[]gnirtS) { /*"
+"*/System.out.println(new StringBuilder().toString()+'H'+'e'+'l'+'l'+'o'+','+' '+'W'+'o'+'r'+'l'+'d'); /*"
+"*/} /*"
+"*/String gnirtS = " = String gnirtS/*"+
"*/ }/*"+
"*/ ;)'d'+'l'+'r'+'o'+'W'+' '+','+'o'+'l'+'l'+'e'+'H'+)(gnirtSot.)(redliuBgnirtS wen(nltnirp.tuo.metsyS/*"+
"*/ { )String][gnirtS(niam diov citats cilbup {/*";//*/
int ssalc;
}//

Only one of the comments is in violation of the spirit of the rules: the //} at the very start. The rest are just to mask newlines; I could take them out if I wrote the main part of the program on one line.

The center of the palindrome is the quotation mark: String gnirtS = "

I'm pretty sure it's actually a palindrome. What's the easiest way to check?

EDIT: It wasn't quite, but now it is.

Answer 12

In common lisp (using no comments or syntactic sugar). Prints only "Hello World!" and returns NIL.

(let (tel etouq)
  (let (tamrof etouq)
    (format t "Hello World!"
            "!dlroW olleH" t tamrof)
    (quote format)
    tel)
  (quote let)
  tel)

Answer 13

In Ruby,

tcepsni = puts "hello world!" || "!dlrow olleh"
stup = inspect

(argg, there's a newline)

Answer 14

In a language that shall not be named:

++++++++++>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++>
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++>
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++>
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++>
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++>
<.<.<.<.<.<.<.<.<.<.<.<.<.<
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>++++++++++

Answer 15

Or in yet another language that shall not be named:

"!dlroW olleH">:#,_@_,#:>"Hello World!"

Answer 16

Python 2.5:

'''dlroW ,olleH' tnirp
'''
print 'Hello, World'''

Answer 17

In the Machine Language Monitor on an Apple //e, type N300G003N to run this program:

300: A2 0C BD 0B 03 20 ED FD CA D0 F7 60 E4 EC F2 EF D7 A0 AC EF EC EC E5 C8 8C 5E CE CE FE CA 0A 7D FE 2F CE 4E 06 7F 0D AC DF DE 02 30 B0 DB C0 2A :003

Answer 18

In HQ9+,

H

edit:

As the challenge clearly notes, the output has to be exactly "Hello, World" whereas HQ9+ prints "Hello, world!" and so here is a special version of HQ9+ written in C that when compiled will output exactly "Hello, World" using the following command:

./hq9 "" -9qH H one letter palindrome

Answer 19

In python 2 lines:

tnirp = 'Hello, World' # print tnirp
print tnirp # 'dlroW ,olleH' = print

can be wrote in 3 lines........

Answer 20

I started from Tiny Programs and wrote my own assembly. Sure, maybe it can be reduced further, but I don't know which other ELF header fields I can subvert for use as code while still being portable.

$ wc -c hellolleh
245 hellolleh
$ xxd hellolleh
0000000: 7f45 4c46 0101 0100 0000 0000 0000 0000  .ELF............
0000010: 0200 0300 0100 0000 5000 9331 2c00 0000  ........P..1,...
0000020: 0000 0000 0000 0000 3400 2000 0100 0000  ........4. .....
0000030: 0000 0000 0000 9331 c040 cd80 f800 0000  .......1.@......
0000040: 7401 0000 0700 0000 0010 0000 f7d8 ebe6  t...............
0000050: 686f 726c 6468 6f2c 2057 6848 656c 6cb8  horldho, WhHell.
0000060: 0400 0000 bb01 0000 0089 e1ba 0c00 0000  ................
0000070: cd80 bb00 0000 00e9 baff ffff bae9 0000  ................
0000080: 0000 bb80 cd00 0000 0cba e189 0000 0001  ................
0000090: bb00 0000 04b8 6c6c 6548 6857 202c 6f68  ......lleHhW ,oh
00000a0: 646c 726f 68e6 ebd8 f700 0010 0000 0000  dlroh...........
00000b0: 0700 0001 7400 0000 f880 cd40 c031 9300  [email protected]..
00000c0: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0100 2000 3400 0000  .......... .4...
00000d0: 0000 0000 0000 0000 2c31 9300 5000 0000  ........,1..P...
00000e0: 0100 0300 0200 0000 0000 0000 0000 0101  ................
00000f0: 0146 4c45 7f                             .FLE.
$ file hellolleh
hellolleh: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, corrupted section header size
$ ./hellolleh
Hello, World

(You can use xxd -r to load this hexdump back into a binary file.)

Answer 21

Here's my answer in TCL:

proc unknown args {puts "Hello World!"}
}"!dlroW olleH" stup{ sgra nwonknu corp

Gotta love a language where the quote rules are really more guidelines than rules. The very fact that line 2 makes no sense causes line 1 to greet the user.

Actually, i think the proc unknown mechanism in tcl is really helpful in some cases and I miss it in other languages.

Answer 22

Using comments:

/**/print"Hello, World!";/*/"!dlroW ,olleH"tnirp/**/

Answer 23

J, no comments.

1!:2&2['Hello, World'['dlroW ,olleH'[2&2:!1

Answer 24

Perl, inspired by the awk and php solutions:

BEGIN{print"Hello, World";exit}tixe;"dlroW ,olleH"tnirp{NIGEB

It exits before it discovers that the remainder of the file doesn't make any sense.

Answer 25

Haskell. Actually pretty easy :)

main = putStr hw
hw = const "Hello, World" ab
a = ba ; niam = main ; ab = a
ba "dlroW ,olleH" tsnoc = wh
wh rtStup = niam

Or, in a comment by Reid Barton:

main = putStr `id` "Hello, World"
niam = main
"dlroW ,olleH" `di` rtStup = niam

Another variation:

main = const putStr main "Hello, World" where erehw "dlroW ,olleH" niam rtStup tsnoc = niam

Answer 26

Python is really tough. Here's the best I can do.

"hello world"
tnirp, fi = True, __doc__#
if tnirp:print fi
#__cod__ ,eurT = if ,print
"dlrow olleh"

Answer 27

Plain bash.

echo "Hello World" || "dlroW olleH" oche

Answer 28

Io:

forward   :=  method
"Hello, world" print
tnirp "dlrow, olleH"
dohtem  =:   drawrof

Answer 29

Since you allowed any language I want, I can cheat\b\b\b\b\bdefine a new language, in which the empty string translates to the program that prints out "hello world". Since the empty string is a palindrome, I present my solution in this language: "".

Answer 30

here's my language:
a is equivelant to white space
b prints "Hello, world"

so here's the program:

aaaaaaa
aaaaaaa
aaaaaaa
aaabaaa
aaaaaaa
aaaaaaa
aaaaaaa

Answer 31

Shortest yet (in TeX):

Hello, world\end dne\dlrow ,olleH

Answer 32

Common Lisp:

(or' "Hello, World" "dlroW ,olleH" 'ro)

Both shortest and simplest one? SBCL + Slime:

"dlroW ,olleH""Hello, World"

Answer 33

Ruby:

puts %"Hello, World!" || "!dlroW ,olleH"% stup

Answer 34

In APL :

'Hello World!',13↓31,'!dlroW olleH'

And within a dynamic function (only in Dyalog APL dialect) :

⍬{'Hello World!',13↓31,'!dlroW olleH'}⍬

Of course, again the brackets make it a mirror image rather than a strict palindrome.

Answer 35

And people say this is hard in python (edited, didn't see the "no comments" rule)...

" \"" and print('Hello, world') and " dna )'dlrow ,olleH'(tnirp dna ""\ "

I challenge anyone to do better: this not only is one line, but it returns None so you don't get any extra output if you type it into the Python REPL.

Answer 36

JavaScript (cheating):

alert("Hello world"); // ;)"dlrow olleH"(trela

Answer 37

mIRC Script:

//echo Hello, World | alias dlrow noop poon world saila | dlroW ,olleH ohce//

Answer 38

Basic (Someone had to do it)

10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD" : GOTO 20 : DNE 02
20 END : 02 OTOG : "DLROW OLLEH" TNIRP 01

Explanation: Basic is an interpreted language. The interpreter doesn't parse the source it doesn't need to. ':' is statement separator like ';' in C-like languages.

In fact this works too, it prints Hello World, but stops with an error.

10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD" : "DLROW OLLEH" TNIRP 01

Answer 39

Windows PowerShell:

"Hello World" # "dlroW olleH"

Answer 40

"Hello, World" || "dlroW ,olleH"

This is an even shorter variation on several that we've seen already. The interesting thing about this one is that it works in several languages, depending on your interpretation of the rules (whether quotes are allowed to be printed out or not):

Javascript, as executed in the Spidermonkey interpreter:

$ js
js> "Hello, World" || "dlroW ,olleH"
Hello, World

Ruby:

$ irb
irb(main):001:0> "Hello, World" || "dlroW ,olleH"
=> "Hello, world"

Answer 41

Javascript:

(alert)('Hello, World') && ('dlroW ,olleH')(trela)

Answer 42

Ruby:

;puts 'Hello! World'.tr'!,;q%,',%q;,!'rt.'dlroW !olleH' stup;

I was really hoping to find a way to make good use of the second half (string) rather than having it sit there just like if I had added a comment... But so far I've only got it fixing the exclamation into a comma...

Answer 43

Orc: "hello world" << "dlrow olleh"

The "<<" runs both the LHS and RHS in parallel, but only returns the value of the LHS, which the interpreter prints. Follow the Orc link to learn more about Orc (there is a "Try Orc" link where you can run this program yourself).

Answer 44

Python 2.x:

"t\";]41:1[";print"\tHello, World..dlorW ,olleHt\"tnirp;"[1:14];"\t"

@Dietrich Epp: 5 characters shorter.

Answer 45

yet another Haskell solution:

main = putStrLn "Hello World!" -- "!dlroW olleH" nLrtStup = niam

Answer 46

Fortran:

      !DNE      
      PROGRAM PAL!      
      print *,'Hello World!' !      
      ! '!dlroW olleH',* tnirp      
      !LAP MARGORP      
      END!      

or the slightly shorter:

      !DNE
      print *,"Hello, World"!
      !"dlroW ,olleH",* tnirp
      END!

Answer 47

False (http://strlen.com/false/) (cheating)

0'}"Hello, world"{{"dlrow, olleH"}'0

Answer 48

Unlambda:

`?d`?c`?d`?c`?d`?c`?d``v````````````.H.e.l.l.o.,. .W.o.r.l.di`d
```````````````
d`id.l.r.o.W. .,.o.l.l.e.H.````````````v``d?`c?`d?`c?`d?`c?`d?`

Answer 49

Pseudocode:

Output "Hello, World".
Ignore the two next lines.
.senil txen owt eht erongI
."dlroW ,olleH" tuptuO

Answer 50

Befunge

0"dlroW ,olleH"v<
@_,^         >#:^
^:#>         ^,_@
<v"Hello, World"0

Answer 51

Here it is in CFML, without using comments:

<cfsetting enablecfoutputonly="true"/>
<cfoutput>Hello, World</cfoutput>
>tuptuofc/<dlroW ,olleH>tuptuofc<
>/"eurt"=ylnotuptuofcelbane gnittesfc<

Or, an extended version that would still work inserted into almost any page, even if global debugging is on:

>/trobafc<<cfcontent reset />
<cfsetting enablecfoutputonly="true" showdebugoutput="false" />
<cfoutput>Hello, World</cfoutput>
>tuptuofc/<dlroW ,olleH>tuptuofc<
>/ "esalf"=tptuogubedwohs "eurt"=ylnotuptuofcelbane gnittesfc<
>/ teser tnetnocfc<<cfabort/>

Answer 52

Python:

print "Hello, World" # "dlroW ,olleH" tnirp

Answer 53

<?php ">?tixe;";echo 1?"\x48ello, World":"dlroW ,olle84x\"?1 ohce;";exit?>" php?<

Answer 54

Another language that cannot be named, albeit in a different sense:

100 108 114 111 87 32 44 111 108*101 72!!!!!!
!!!!!!27 101*801 111 44 23 78 111 411 801 001

Answer 55

I wanted to code a C solution that doesn't use #if or #ifdefs because I think of them as just another form of comments.

So! Here is my attempt, completely free of comments, #ifs and #ifdefs.

I used gcc 4.3.2, with the -Wall flag; it compiled without warnings or errors.

 
#define niam ){printf("Hello, World\n");return 0;}x(( z enifed#
;int(y);
#define x(x)
#include <stdio.h>
#define tni 0)
#define y int y=
int main(niam tni
=y tni y enifed#
)0 int enifed#
>h.oidts< edulcni#
)x(x enifed#
;)y(tni;
#define z ((x};0 nruter;)"n\dlroW ,olleH"(ftnirp{) main enifed#
 

Answer 56

Lua

x=print"Hello, world"=="dlrow ,olleH"tnirp=x

Answer 57

shell + Perl

perl -e 'print "Hello, World\n"' '"n\dlroW ,olleH" tnirp' e- lrep

Answer 58

BATCH

palindrome source code palindrome output text palindrome output file

echo "txt.Hello worlddlrow olleH.txt" >> "txt.Hello worlddlrow olleH.txt" ohce

Answer 59

Someone had to do it eventually....

PLEASE,1<-#12DO,1SUB#1<-#238DONOTODPUEVIGOD1,TUODAERESAELPDO,1SUB#2<-
   #108DON'TONOD61#-<21#BUS1,ODPLEASE,1SUB#3<-#112DON'T'NOD42#-<11   
       #BUS1,ODO,1SUB#4<-#0DONOT'NESAELP861#-<01#BUS1,ODO,1SUB       
            #5<-#64PLEASENOTONOD442#-<9#BUS1,ODO,1SUB#6<-            
                 #194DON'TONOD62#-<8#BUS1,ESAELPDO,1                 
                    SUB#7<-#48DON'T'NOD84#-<7#BUS                    
                 1,ODPLEASE,1SUB#8<-#26DONOT'NOD491#                 
            -<6#BUS1,ODO,1SUB#9<-#244DONOTONESAELP46#-<5#            
       BUS1,ODO,1SUB#10<-#168PLEASEN'TONOD0#-<4#BUS1,ODO,1SUB#       
   11<-#24DON'T'NOD211#-<3#BUS1,ESAELPDO,1SUB#12<-#16DONOT'NOD801#   
-<2#BUS1,ODPLEASEREADOUT,1DOGIVEUPDOTONOD832#-<1#BUS1,OD21#-<1,ESAELP

Answer 60

HTML no comments :D

Hello, World<p style="display:none;">";enon:yalpsid"=elyts p<dlroW ,olleH

Answer 61

vbscript:

msgbox+"Hello, World"+y,00,y+"dlroW ,olleH"+xobgsm

Answer 62

sed, no comments, 51 characters:

;;s/.*\|;s/Hello, World/;q;/dlroW ,olleH/s;|\*./s;;

Give it anything as input: echo SOMETHING | sed -f thisfile.sed

The autocolorcoding looks pretty nice on this one. ☆^_^☆

Answer 63

Javascript:

alert("Hello, world");)"dlrow , olleH"(trela

I don't have time to test this out, but if I remember correctly, most browsers just stop executing the Javascript when an error occurs.

Answer 64

PostScript, no comments, 41 chars:

(Hello, World)= quit tiuq =)dlroW ,olleH(

The interpreter stops parsing after quit ... the rest of it is syntactically ill-formed. Here's a version that runs until the end (135 characters):

[/Hello,!World/ pop 12 string/ pop cvs/ pop
dup/ pop 6 32 put/ pop = pop /tup 23 6 pop /pud
pop /svc pop /gnirts 21 pop /dlroW!,olleH/[

The fact that strings are delimited by nonidentical characters (parens) makes this a bit harder. Ironically, one can get around this by using pop in the right places; pop itself is quite coincidentally (and usefully so) a palindrome. ☆^_^☆

pop is quite a lifesaver, actually. I'm not sure how this would be possible if the operator's name weren't a palindrome. :o

Here's a slightly longer version without pop (180 chars):

[/dlroW!,olleH/x/tup/x/pud/x/svc/x/gnirts/Hello,!World
12 string cvs dup 6 32 put =/nigeb>>begin/= tup 23 6 pud svc gnirts 21
dlroW!,olleH/string/x/cvs/x/dup/x/put/x/Hello,!World/[

Answer 65

Golfscript - 29 bytes

"dlrow ,olleH";"Hello, World"

';' means pop and discard

Answer 66

Representing REBOL:

REBOL [] print "Hello world!" halt tlah "!dlrow olleH" tnirp [] LOBER

Answer 67

J

'Hello World!'['!dlroW olleH'

Easy - [ returns the left argument.