WordSearch

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WordSearch is a Perl script that generates word search puzzles. It will generate random word search puzzles, or you can give it a list which will allow it to generate your own puzzles.

Updated! Version 1.4.1

• Version 1.4.1 (2006-08-23):
  • FEATURES:
    • Added –no_normalize to aid in making number searches
    • Included a small Perl Program “numbergenerator.pl” to aid in making number searches
    • Check the README file for more information.

    BUGFIXES:

    • Documented several switches that weren’t documented (whoops!)
    • Made –all really use all of the words
    • Minor bug fixes
• Version 1.4 (2006-03-26):
  This release is the result of lots of work by Lars Huttar. Wordsearch now supports Unicode wordlists, and also outputs SVG solutions. It also makes sure there aren’t multiple solutions, and improves word placement. Thank you, Lars! (Any bugs are likely the result of me merging the code, so blame me, not Lars. :))
• Version 1.3.4 (2005-12-28):
  Added minwordlength switch to configure the shortest word used from the list. Also added similarwords switch to allow similar words (default is now no similar words). Added useletters switch to use the letters in the puzzle as the pool of random letters to populate the puzzle. Minor bug fixes were also incorporated.
• Version 1.3.3 (2005-12-11):
  Modified the wordsearch program to shuffle the wordlist and then pick the words from the shuffled list. This will prevent duplicate entries from the word list (as long as the word list does not contain duplicates itself) This simplifies the code, so custom word lists may load and display faster than before.
• Version 1.3.2 (2005-04-18):
  This release fixes bugs where using wordlists could cause infinite looping., blank lines caused infinite looping, and words were sometimes missing the last letter. The puzzle will now grow until a solution is found. Quick and thorough settings were added to change how quickly the program will attempt before trying to grow the puzzle, or abort.

This program is based off of discussions I’ve had with Stephen Uitti, who wrote a C program to create wordsearch puzzles. Without these discussions, this application probably wouldn’t even exist, let alone be useful. Thanks, Steve!

Patches and suggestions are always welcome. Please send both to craig@decafbad.net.