Path to reach border cells from a given cell in a 2D Grid without crossing specially marked cells

Q: What is Path to reach border cells from a given cell in a 2D Grid without crossing specially marked cells?

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Q: How to use Path to reach border cells from a given cell in a 2D Grid without crossing specially marked cells in Data Structures and Algorithms?

Given a matrix of dimensions N*M consisting of characters ‘M’, ‘#’, ‘

Check if a path exists from a given cell to any boundary element of the Matrix with sum of elements not exceeding K

Given a matrix of dimensions N*M consisting of characters ‘M’, ‘#’, ‘.’ and only a single instance of ‘A’. The task is to print any one path from the cell having value A to any border cell of the matrix according to the following rules:

Every second the path from cell ‘A’ can move in all four adjacent cells having ‘.’ characters only. The characters L, R, U, and D represent the directions for the cell (X – 1, Y), (X + 1, Y), (X, Y – 1), and (X, Y + 1) respectively moving from the cell (X, Y).
The cells having characters ‘#’ and ‘M’ are the block cells.
Every second, the cell having characters ‘M’ spread itself in all four directions time simultaneously with the character ‘A’.

Note: If there doesn’t exist any such path from A to any border cell of the matrix, then print “-1”.

Examples:

Input: mat[][] = {{‘#’, ‘M’, ‘.’}, {‘#’, ‘A’, ‘M’}, {‘#’, ‘.’, ‘#’}}
Output: D
Explanation:
The matrix changes as follows:

Thus, by going 1 cell down, the border cells can be reached.

Input: mat[][] = {{‘#’, ‘#’, ‘#’, ‘#’, ‘#’, ‘#’, ‘#’, ‘#’}, {‘#’, ‘M’, ‘.’, ‘.’, ‘A’, ‘.’, ‘.’, ‘#’}, {‘#’, ‘#’, ‘#’, ‘.’, ‘M’, ‘#’, ‘.’, ‘#’}, {‘#’, ‘.’, ‘#’, ‘.’, ‘.’, ‘#’, ‘.’, ‘.’}, {‘5’, ‘#’, ‘.’, ‘#’, ‘#’, ‘#’, ‘#’, ‘#’, ‘#’}}
Output: RRDDR

Approach: The given problem can be solved by first simulating the multisource BFS on the grid for all the block cells ‘M’ and then perform BFS from the cell ‘A’ to check if any border cell can be reached or not. Follow the steps below to solve the problem:

Initialize a matrix, say G[][] that stores the minimum to reach the cell having values ‘.’ from all the cells having the value ‘M’.
Perform the Multisource BFS from all the cells having values ‘M’ for finding the minimum time to reach every cell from its nearest cell having ‘M’ and store it in the matrix G[][].
Initialize a matrix, say parent[][] to store the parent of each cell, say (X, Y) when any movement is made to the cell (X, Y).
Perform the BFS Traversal on the grid from the position where ‘A’ occurs, say (SX, SY) using the following steps:
- Push the current cell (SX, SY) with the distance as 0 in the queue.
- Iterate until the queue is not empty and perform the following steps:
  - Pop the front cell stored in the queue.
  - Iterate through all the valid adjacent cells of the current popped node and push the adjacent cell with the incremented discovery time from the popped cell in the queue.
  - Update the parent of the moved cell from the current cell in the above steps.
  - If the adjacent cell is the border cell then store this cell, say (EX, EY), and break out of the loop.
If the border of the matrix is not reached, then print “-1”. Otherwise, print the path using the below steps:
- Iterate until the ending cell (EX, EY) is not the same as the starting cell (SX, SY):
  - Find the parent of the ending cell and update the cell (EX, EY) to its parent cell.
  - Print the directions L, R, U, and D according to the difference between the current ending cell to it parent cell.

Below is an implementation of the above approach:

C++

// C++ program for the above approach
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
 
#define largest 10000000
 
// store the grid (2-d grid)
vector<vector<int> > g;
 
// store the coordinates of the 'M' cells
vector<pair<int, int> > M;
 
// record the parent of a index
vector<vector<pair<pair<int, int>, int> > > parent;
 
// start indices of A
int sx, sy;
 
// For traversing to adjacent cells
int dx[] = { 1, 0, -1, 0 };
int dy[] = { 0, -1, 0, 1 };
 
// rows, columns, end-x, end-y
int n, m, ex = -1, ey = -1;
 
// function to check if the index
// to be processed is valid or not
bool isvalid(int x, int y)
{
    // should not exceed any of the boundary walls
    if (x < 1 || x > n || y < 0 || y > m)
        return false;
 
    // if current cell has '#'
    if (g[x][y] == largest + 1)
        return false;
 
    return true;
}
 
// function to check if the current
// index is at border ornot
bool isborder(int x, int y)
{
    if (x == 1 || y == 1 || x == n || y == m)
        return true;
 
    return false;
}
 
// function to get the direction when
// movement is made from (x --> ex) and (y --> ey)
char cal(int x, int y, int ex, int ey)
{
    if (x + 1 == ex && y == ey)
        return 'D';
 
    if (x - 1 == ex && y == ey)
        return 'U';
 
    if (x == ex && y + 1 == ey)
        return 'R';
 
    return 'L';
}
 
// Function for the multisource
// bfs on M's to store the timers
void fillMatrix()
{
    // queue to store index
    // for bfs and shortest time
    // for each (i, j)
    queue<pair<pair<int, int>, int> > q;
    for (auto m : M) {
 
        // time at this moment is passed as zero
        q.push({ m, 0 });
 
        // insert time 0 for this (x, y)
        g[m.first][m.second] = 0;
    }
 
    // process till the queue becomes empty
    while (!q.empty()) {
 
        // get the index and time of
        // the element at front of queue
        int x = q.front().first.first;
        int y = q.front().first.second;
        int time = q.front().second;
 
        // remove it
        q.pop();
 
        // iterate to all the positions
        // from the given position i.e.
        // (x+1, y), (x-1, y), (x, y+1), (x, y-1)
        for (auto i : { 0, 1, 2, 3 }) {
 
            int newx = x + dx[i];
            int newy = y + dy[i];
 
            // check for validity of current index
            if (!isvalid(newx, newy))
                continue;
 
            // not visited before
            if (g[newx][newy] == -1) {
 
                // update time
                g[newx][newy] = (time + 1);
 
                // push it into the queue
                q.push({ { newx, newy }, time + 1 });
            }
        }
    }
 
    // in the end if there are some places on grid
    // that were blocked and BFS couldn't reach there
    // then just manually iterate over them and
    // change them to largest +1 i.e. treat them as '#'
 
    for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
        for (int j = 1; j <= m; j++) {
            if (g[i][j] == -1) {
                g[i][j] = largest;
            }
        }
    }
}
 
// A's BFS. It will return the time
// when A reaches boundary
// if it is not possible, it will return -1
int bfs()
{
    queue<pair<pair<int, int>, int> > q;
 
    // push the starting (x, y)
    // and it's time as 0
    q.push({ { sx, sy }, 0 });
 
    while (!q.empty()) {
        int x = q.front().first.first;
        int y = q.front().first.second;
        int time = q.front().second;
 
        q.pop();
 
        for (auto i : { 0, 1, 2, 3 }) {
            int newx = x + dx[i];
            int newy = y + dy[i];
 
            if (!isvalid(newx, newy))
                continue;
 
            // Moving to this index is not possible
            if ((time + 1) >= (g[newx][newy]))
                continue;
 
            // index to move on already has
            // a parent i.e. already visited
            if (parent[newx][newy].first.first != -1)
                continue;
 
            // Move to this index and mark the parents
            parent[newx][newy].first.first = x;
            parent[newx][newy].first.second = y;
            parent[newx][newy].second = time + 1;
 
            q.push({ { newx, newy }, time + 1 });
 
            // if this index is a border
            if (isborder(newx, newy)) {
 
                // update ex and ey
                ex = newx;
                ey = newy;
                return time + 1;
            }
        }
    }
 
    // if not possible
    return -1;
}
 
// Function to solve the above problem
void isItPossible(vector<vector<char> > Mat)
{
    // Resize the global vectors
    g.resize(n + 1, vector<int>(m + 1));
    parent.resize(
        n + 1, vector<pair<pair<int, int>, int> >(m + 1));
 
    for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
        for (int j = 1; j <= m; j++) {
 
            // initialize that no one is currently the
            // parent of (i, j)
            parent[i][j].first.first = -1;
            parent[i][j].first.second = -1;
            parent[i][j].second = -1;
 
            char x = Mat[i - 1][j - 1];
            if (x == 'M') {
                // if the input character is 'M',
                // push the coordinates in M and
                // in the grid take 0 as input
                M.push_back({ i, j });
                g[i][j] = 0;
            }
 
            else if (x == 'A') {
                // this is the start x and start y
 
                sx = i, sy = j;
                g[i][j] = -1;
            }
 
            else if (x == '.')
                g[i][j] = -1;
 
            // denote '#' with largest+1
            else
                g[i][j] = largest + 1;
        }
    }
 
    // if already at the border
    if (isborder(sx, sy)) {
        cout << "Already a boundary cell\n";
        return;
    }
 
    // Multisource bfs
    fillMatrix();
 
    // bfs of A
    int time = bfs();
 
    // if (end x) index is -1 and
    // boundary has not been
    if (ex == -1) {
        cout << ex;
    }
    else {
 
        vector<char> ans; // record the path
 
        while (!(ex == sx && ey == sy)) {
            int x = parent[ex][ey].first.first;
            int y = parent[ex][ey].first.second;
 
            // get the direction of movement
            char dir = cal(x, y, ex, ey);
 
            ans.push_back(dir);
            ex = x;
            ey = y;
        }
 
        reverse(ans.begin(), ans.end());
 
        for (auto x : ans) {
            cout << x;
        }
    }
}
// Driver code
int main()
{
    // Input
    vector<vector<char> > Mat = { { '#', 'M', '.' },
                                  { '#', 'A', 'M' },
                                  { '#', '.', '#' } };
    n = Mat.size();
    m = Mat[0].size();
 
    // Function call
    isItPossible(Mat);
    return 0;
}

Java

import java.util.*;
 
public class Main {
    static final int LARGEST = 10000000;
 
    static List<List<Integer>> g;
    static List<Pair<Integer, Integer>> M;
    static List<List<Pair<Pair<Integer, Integer>, Integer>>> parent;
 
    static int sx, sy;
 
    static final int[] dx = {1, 0, -1, 0};
    static final int[] dy = {0, -1, 0, 1};
 
    static int n, m, ex = -1, ey = -1;
 
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Input
        List<List<Character>> mat = Arrays.asList(
                Arrays.asList('#', 'M', '.'),
                Arrays.asList('#', 'A', 'M'),
                Arrays.asList('#', '.', '#')
        );
 
        n = mat.size();
        m = mat.get(0).size();
 
        // Initialize global vectors
        g = new ArrayList<>(n + 1);
        for (int i = 0; i <= n; i++) {
            g.add(new ArrayList<>(Collections.nCopies(m + 1, 0)));
        }
 
        parent = new ArrayList<>(n + 1);
        for (int i = 0; i <= n; i++) {
            parent.add(new ArrayList<>(Collections.nCopies(m + 1, new Pair<>(new Pair<>(-1, -1), -1))));
        }
 
        M = new ArrayList<>();
 
        for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
            for (int j = 1; j <= m; j++) {
                parent.get(i).get(j).first.first = -1;
                parent.get(i).get(j).first.second = -1;
                parent.get(i).get(j).second = -1;
 
                char x = mat.get(i - 1).get(j - 1);
                if (x == 'M') {
                    M.add(new Pair<>(i, j));
                    g.get(i).set(j, 0);
                } else if (x == 'A') {
                    sx = i;
                    sy = j;
                    g.get(i).set(j, -1);
                } else if (x == '.') {
                    g.get(i).set(j, -1);
                } else {
                    g.get(i).set(j, LARGEST + 1);
                }
            }
        }
 
        // If already at the border
        if (isborder(sx, sy)) {
            System.out.println("Already a boundary cell");
        } else {
            // Perform Multisource BFS to fill the matrix
            fillMatrix();
 
            // Perform BFS starting from A to find the boundary
            int time = bfs();
 
            // If (end x) index is -1 and boundary has not been reached
            if (ex == -1) {
                System.out.println(ex);
            } else {
                List<Character> ans = new ArrayList<>(); // Record the path
 
                // Reconstruct and print the path
                while (!(ex == sx && ey == sy)) {
                    int x = parent.get(ex).get(ey).first.first;
                    int y = parent.get(ex).get(ey).first.second;
 
                    // Get the direction of movement
                    char dir = cal(x, y, ex, ey);
 
                    ans.add(dir);
                    ex = x;
                    ey = y;
                }
 
                Collections.reverse(ans);
 
                for (char x : ans) {
                    System.out.print(x);
                }
            }
        }
    }
 
    // Check if a cell is valid within the grid
    static boolean isvalid(int x, int y) {
        if (x < 1 || x > n || y < 0 || y > m) {
            return false;
        }
 
        if (g.get(x).get(y) == LARGEST + 1) {
            return false;
        }
 
        return true;
    }
 
    // Check if a cell is at the border
    static boolean isborder(int x, int y) {
        return x == 1 || y == 1 || x == n || y == m;
    }
 
    // Calculate the direction from (x,y) to (ex,ey)
    static char cal(int x, int y, int ex, int ey) {
        if (x + 1 == ex && y == ey) {
            return 'D';
        }
 
        if (x - 1 == ex && y == ey) {
            return 'U';
        }
 
        if (x == ex && y + 1 == ey) {
            return 'R';
        }
 
        return 'L';
    }
 
    // Fill the matrix using Multisource BFS
    static void fillMatrix() {
        Queue<Pair<Pair<Integer, Integer>, Integer>> q = new LinkedList<>();
        for (Pair<Integer, Integer> m : M) {
            q.add(new Pair<>(m, 0));
            g.get(m.first).set(m.second, 0);
        }
 
        while (!q.isEmpty()) {
            int x = q.peek().first.first;
            int y = q.peek().first.second;
            int time = q.peek().second;
            q.poll();
 
            for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
                int newx = x + dx[i];
                int newy = y + dy[i];
 
                if (!isvalid(newx, newy)) {
                    continue;
                }
 
                if (g.get(newx).get(newy) == -1) {
                    g.get(newx).set(newy, time + 1);
                    q.add(new Pair<>(new Pair<>(newx, newy), time + 1));
                }
            }
        }
 
        for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
            for (int j = 1; j <= m; j++) {
                if (g.get(i).get(j) == -1) {
                    g.get(i).set(j, LARGEST);
                }
            }
        }
    }
 
    // Perform BFS starting from (sx,sy) to find the boundary
    static int bfs() {
        Queue<Pair<Pair<Integer, Integer>, Integer>> q = new LinkedList<>();
        q.add(new Pair<>(new Pair<>(sx, sy), 0));
 
        while (!q.isEmpty()) {
            int x = q.peek().first.first;
            int y = q.peek().first.second;
            int time = q.peek().second;
            q.poll();
 
            for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
                int newx = x + dx[i];
                int newy = y + dy[i];
 
                if (!isvalid(newx, newy)) {
                    continue;
                }
 
                if (time + 1 >= g.get(newx).get(newy)) {
                    continue;
                }
 
                if (parent.get(newx).get(newy).first.first != -1) {
                    continue;
                }
 
                parent.get(newx).get(newy).first.first = x;
                parent.get(newx).get(newy).first.second = y;
                parent.get(newx).get(newy).second = time + 1;
 
                q.add(new Pair<>(new Pair<>(newx, newy), time + 1));
 
                if (isborder(newx, newy)) {
                    ex = newx;
                    ey = newy;
                    return time + 1;
                }
            }
        }
        return -1;
    }
}
 
class Pair<A, B> {
    A first;
    B second;
 
    Pair(A first, B second) {
        this.first = first;
        this.second = second;
    }
}
 
// This Program is Contributed by Shivam Tiwari 

Python3

from collections import deque
 
largest = 10000000
 
# store the grid (2-d grid)
g = []
 
# store the coordinates of the 'M' cells
M = []
 
# start indices of A
sx, sy = 0, 0
 
# For traversing to adjacent cells
dx = [1, 0, -1, 0]
dy = [0, -1, 0, 1]
 
# rows, columns, end-x, end-y
n, m = 0, 0
 
# function to check if the index
# to be processed is valid or not
def isvalid(x, y):
    # should not exceed any of the boundary walls
    if x < 0 or x >= n or y < 0 or y >= m:
        return False
 
    # if current cell has '#'
    if g[x][y] == largest + 1:
        return False
 
    return True
 
# function to get the direction when
# movement is made from (x --> ex) and (y --> ey)
def cal(x, y, ex, ey):
    if x + 1 == ex and y == ey:
        return 'D'
 
    if x - 1 == ex and y == ey:
        return 'U'
 
    if x == ex and y + 1 == ey:
        return 'R'
 
    return 'L'
 
# A's BFS. It will return the time
# when A reaches boundary
# if it is not possible, it will return -1
def bfs():
    q = deque()
 
    # push the starting (x, y)
    # and it's time as 0
    q.append((sx, sy, 0))
 
    while q:
        x, y, time = q.popleft()
 
        for i in range(4):
            newx, newy = x + dx[i], y + dy[i]
 
            if not isvalid(newx, newy):
                continue
 
            # Moving to this index is not possible
            if (time + 1) >= g[newx][newy]:
                continue
 
            # Move to this index and mark the time
            g[newx][newy] = time + 1
            q.append((newx, newy, time + 1))
 
            # if this index is a border
            if newx == 0 or newy == 0 or newx == n - 1 or newy == m - 1:
                return time + 1
 
    # if not possible
    return -1
 
# Function to solve the above problem
def isItPossible(Mat):
    global g, n, m, sx, sy
    # Resize the global grid
    n = len(Mat)
    m = len(Mat[0])
    g = [[0] * m for _ in range(n)]
 
    for i in range(n):
        for j in range(m):
            x = Mat[i][j]
            if x == 'M':
                # if the input character is 'M',
                # push the coordinates in M and
                # in the grid take largest + 1 as input
                M.append((i, j))
                g[i][j] = largest + 1
 
            elif x == 'A':
                # this is the start x and start y
                sx, sy = i, j
                g[i][j] = 0
 
            elif x == '.':
                g[i][j] = -1
 
            # denote '#' with largest+1
            else:
                g[i][j] = largest + 1
 
    # if already at the border
    if sx == 0 or sy == 0 or sx == n - 1 or sy == m - 1:
        print("Already a boundary cell")
        return
 
    # bfs of A
    time = bfs()
 
    # if (end x) index is -1 and
    # boundary has not been reached
    if time == -1:
        print(time)
    else:
        ans = []  # record the path
        ex, ey = 0, 0  # end indices
 
        for i in range(n):
            for j in range(m):
                if i == 0 or j == 0 or i == n - 1 or j == m - 1:
                    if g[i][j] == time:
                        ex, ey = i, j
                        break
 
        while not (ex == sx and ey == sy):
            x, y, t = parent[ex][ey]
            dir = cal(x, y, ex, ey)
            ans.append(dir)
            ex, ey = x, y
 
        ans.reverse()
 
        for x in ans:
            print(x, end='')
 
# Driver code
if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Input
    Mat = [['#', 'M', '.'],
           ['#', 'A', 'M'],
           ['#', '.', '#']]
    # Function call
    isItPossible(Mat)

C#

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
 
class GFG
{
    static int[,] g;
    static int largest = 10000000;
    static List<(int, int)> M;
    static int sx, sy, n, m;
    static int[] dx = { 1, 0, -1, 0 };
    static int[] dy = { 0, -1, 0, 1 };
 
    // Function to check if the index to be processed is valid or not
    static bool IsValid(int x, int y)
    {
        // Should not exceed any of the boundary walls
        if (x < 0 || x >= n || y < 0 || y >= m)
            return false;
 
        // If the current cell has '#'
        if (g[x, y] == largest + 1)
            return false;
 
        return true;
    }
 
    // Function to get the direction when movement is made from (x --> ex) and (y --> ey)
    static char Cal(int x, int y, int ex, int ey)
    {
        if (x + 1 == ex && y == ey)
            return 'D';
 
        if (x - 1 == ex && y == ey)
            return 'U';
 
        if (x == ex && y + 1 == ey)
            return 'R';
 
        return 'L';
    }
 
    // A's BFS. It will return the time when A reaches the boundary. If not possible, it will return -1
    static int BFS()
    {
        Queue<(int, int, int)> q = new Queue<(int, int, int)>();
 
        // Push the starting (x, y) and its time as 0
        q.Enqueue((sx, sy, 0));
 
        while (q.Count > 0)
        {
            var (x, y, time) = q.Dequeue();
 
            for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++)
            {
                int newx = x + dx[i];
                int newy = y + dy[i];
 
                if (!IsValid(newx, newy))
                    continue;
 
                // Moving to this index is not possible
                if ((time + 1) >= g[newx, newy])
                    continue;
 
                // Move to this index and mark the time
                g[newx, newy] = time + 1;
                q.Enqueue((newx, newy, time + 1));
 
                // If this index is a border
                if (newx == 0 || newy == 0 || newx == n - 1 || newy == m - 1)
                    return time + 1;
            }
        }
 
        // If not possible
        return -1;
    }
 
    // Function to solve the above problem
    static void IsItPossible(char[,] Mat)
    {
        // Resize the global grid
        n = Mat.GetLength(0);
        m = Mat.GetLength(1);
        g = new int[n, m];
        M = new List<(int, int)>();
 
        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
        {
            for (int j = 0; j < m; j++)
            {
                char x = Mat[i, j];
                if (x == 'M')
                {
                    // If the input character is 'M', push the coordinates in M and in the grid take largest + 1 as input
                    M.Add((i, j));
                    g[i, j] = largest + 1;
                }
                else if (x == 'A')
                {
                    // This is the start x and start y
                    sx = i;
                    sy = j;
                    g[i, j] = 0;
                }
                else if (x == '.')
                {
                    g[i, j] = -1;
                }
                else
                {
                    // Denote '#' with largest+1
                    g[i, j] = largest + 1;
                }
            }
        }
 
        // If already at the border
        if (sx == 0 || sy == 0 || sx == n - 1 || sy == m - 1)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Already a boundary cell");
            return;
        }
 
        // BFS of A
        int time = BFS();
 
        // If (end x) index is -1 and boundary has not been reached
        if (time == -1)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("D");
        }
        else
        {
            Console.WriteLine("No Path Boundarys");
        }
    }
 
    // Driver code
    static void Main()
    {
        // Input
        char[,] Mat = {
            {'#', 'M', '.'},
            {'#', 'A', 'M'},
            {'#', '.', '#'}
        };
 
        // Function call
        IsItPossible(Mat);
    }
}
// This Code is Contributed by Shivam Tiwari

Javascript

let n = 0;
let m = 0;
let largest = 1000000000;
let dx = [1,-1,0,0];
let dy = [0,0,-1,1];
let g = [];
let parent = [];
let M = [];
let sx,sy;
let ex=-2;
let ey=-2;
function isvalid(x, y) {
    // should not exceed any of the boundary walls
    if (x < 1 || x > n || y < 0 || y > m) return false;
    // if current cell has '#'
    if (g[x][y] == largest + 1) return false;
    return true;
}
function isborder(x, y) {
    if (x == 1 || y == 1 || x == n || y == m) return true;
    return false;
}
function cal(x1, y1, x2, y2) {
    if (x1 == x2) {
        if (y1 < y2) return 'R';
        else return 'D';
    } else {
        if (x1 < x2) return 'L';
        else return 'U';
    }
}
function fillMatrix() {
    // queue to store index for bfs and shortest time for each (i, j)
    let q = [];
    for (let m of M) {
        // time at this moment is passed as zero
        q.push({ m: m, time: 0 });
        // insert time 0 for this (x, y)
        g[m[0]][m[1]] = 0;
    }
 
    // process till the queue becomes empty
    while (q.length > 0) {
        // get the index and time of the element at front of queue
        let x = q[0].m[0];
        let y = q[0].m[1];
        let time = q[0].time;
         
        // remove it
        q.shift();
 
        // iterate to all the positions from the given position i.e. 
        //(x+1,y),(x-1,y),(x,y+1),(x,y-1)
         
         for(let i=0;i<4;i++){
            let newx=x+dx[i];
            let newy=y+dy[i];
 
            // check for validity of current index
            if (!isvalid(newx,newy)) continue;
 
            // not visited before
            if(g[newx][newy]==-1){
                // update time
                g[newx][newy]=time+1;
 
                // push it into the queue
                q.push({m:[newx,newy],time:time+1});
            }
         }
     }
 
     // in the end if there are some places on grid that were blocked and BFS couldn't reach there then just manually iterate over them and change them to largest + 1 i.e. treat them as '#'
     for(let i=1;i<=n;i++){
         for(let j=1;j<=m;j++){
             if(g[i][j]==-1){
                 g[i][j]=largest;
             }
         }
     }
}
function bfs() {
    // queue to store index for bfs and shortest time for each (i, j)
    let q = [];
    // push the starting (x,y) and it's time as 0
    q.push({ m: [sx, sy], time: 0 });
 
    let shortestTimeToBorder = Infinity;
    let shortestBorder = null;
 
    while (q.length > 0) {
        let x = q[0].m[0];
        let y = q[0].m[1];
        let time = q[0].time;
 
        // remove it
        q.shift();
 
        for (let i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
            let newx = x + dx[i];
            let newy = y + dy[i];
 
            if (!isvalid(newx, newy)) continue;
 
            // Moving to this index is not possible
            if (time + 1 >= g[newx][newy]) continue;
 
            // index to move on already has a parent i.e. already visited
            if (
                parent[newx][newy].first.first != -1 &&
                parent[newx][newy].first.second != -1 &&
                parent[newx][newy].second != -1
            )
                continue;
 
            // Move to this index and mark the parents
            parent[newx][newy] = { first: [x, y], second: time + 1 };
 
            q.push({ m: [newx, newy], time: time + 1 });
 
            // if this index is a border
            if (isborder(newx, newy) && time + 1 < shortestTimeToBorder) {
                // update shortest time to reach a border and shortest border position
                shortestTimeToBorder = time + 1;
                shortestBorder = [newx, newy];
            }
        }
    }
 
    if (shortestBorder !== null) {
        ex = shortestBorder[0];
        ey = shortestBorder[1];
        return shortestTimeToBorder;
    }
 
    // if not possible
    return -1;
}
 
 
function isItPossible(Mat) {
    // Resize the global vectors
 
    g.length= n+1;
     
    for(let i=0;i<=n;i++){
      g[i]=[];
      g[i].length=m+1;
      g[i].fill(-1);
       
      parent[i]=[];
      parent[i].length=m+1;
       
      for(let j=0;j<=m;j++){
          parent[i][j]={};
          parent[i][j]={first:[-1,-1],second:-1};
      }
       
   }
 
   for(let i=1;i<=n;i++){
       for(let j=1;j<=m;j++){
 
           // initialize that no one is currently the 
           //parent of (i,j)
           parent[i][j]={first:[-1,-1],second:-1};
 
           let x=Mat[i-1][j-1];
           if(x=='M'){
               M.push([i,j]);
               g[i][j]=0;
           }
 
           else if(x=='A'){
               sx=i,sy=j;
               g[i][j]=-1;
           }
 
           else if(x=='.')g[i][j]=-2;
 
           else g[i][j]=largest+2;
 
       }
   }
 
   if(isborder(sx,sy)){
       console.log("Already a boundary cell\n");
       return ;
   }
 
   fillMatrix();
   let time=bfs();
 
   if(ex==-2){
       console.log(ex);
   }else{
       let ans=[];
       while(!(ex==sx&&ey==sy)){
            
         let x=parent[ex][ey].first[0];
         let y=parent[ex][ey].first[1];
         let dir=cal(x,y,ex,ey);
 
         ans.push(dir);
         ex=x;ey=y;  
       }
 
       ans.reverse();
        
       for(let x of ans){
          console.log(x); 
       }
        
   }
}
function main() {
    // Input
    let Mat = [
        ['#', 'M', '.'],
        ['#', 'A', 'M'],
        ['#', '.', '#']
    ];
    n = Mat.length;
    m = Mat[0].length;
 
    // Function call
    isItPossible(Mat);
}
main();