Print the most occurring character in an array of strings
Last Updated :
12 Jul, 2025
Given an array arr[] of lowercase strings, the task is to print the most occurring character in the set of strings.
Examples:
Input: arr[] = {"animal", "zebra", "lion", "giraffe"}
Output: a
Explanation:
The frequency of 'a' is 4 which is highest.
Input: arr[] = {"aa", "bb", "cc", "bde"}
Output: b
Approach: The idea is to implement a hash data structure using an array of size 26. This array stores the count of each character from 'a' to 'z'. The following steps can be followed to compute the answer:
- Each string in the array is traversed.
- For every character in the string, its count is incremented by 1 in the hash.
- After all, strings are traversed, the maximum count of the character is checked and the character is printed.
Below is the implementation of the above approach:
CPP
// C++ program to print the most occurring
// character in an array of strings
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
// Function to print the most occurring character
void findMostOccurringChar(vector<string> str)
{
// Creating a hash of size 26
int hash[26] = { 0 };
// For loop to iterate through
// every string of the array
for (int i = 0; i < str.size(); i++) {
// For loop to iterate through
// every character of the string
for (int j = 0; j < str[i].length(); j++) {
// Incrementing the count of
// the character in the hash
hash[str[i][j]]++;
}
}
// Finding the character
// with the maximum count
int max = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < 26; i++) {
max = hash[i] > hash[max] ? i : max;
}
cout << (char)(max + 97) << endl;
}
// Driver code
int main()
{
// Declaring Vector of String type
vector<string> str;
str.push_back("animal");
str.push_back("zebra");
str.push_back("lion");
str.push_back("giraffe");
findMostOccurringChar(str);
return 0;
}
// Java program to print the most occurring
// character in an array of Strings
import java.util.*;
class GFG
{
// Function to print the most occurring character
static void findMostOccurringChar(Vector<String> str)
{
// Creating a hash of size 26
int []hash = new int[26];
// For loop to iterate through
// every String of the array
for (int i = 0; i < str.size(); i++)
{
// For loop to iterate through
// every character of the String
for (int j = 0; j < str.get(i).length(); j++)
{
// Incrementing the count of
// the character in the hash
hash[str.get(i).charAt(j)-97]++;
}
}
// Finding the character
// with the maximum count
int max = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < 26; i++)
{
max = hash[i] > hash[max] ? i : max;
}
System.out.print((char)(max + 97) +"\n");
}
// Driver code
public static void main(String[] args)
{
// Declaring Vector of String type
Vector<String> str = new Vector<String>();
str.add("animal");
str.add("zebra");
str.add("lion");
str.add("giraffe");
findMostOccurringChar(str);
}
}
// This code is contributed by PrinciRaj1992
# Python3 program to print the most occurring
# character in an array of strings
# Function to print the most occurring character
def findMostOccurringChar(string) :
# Creating a hash of size 26
hash = [0]*26;
# For loop to iterate through
# every string of the array
for i in range(len(string)) :
# For loop to iterate through
# every character of the string
for j in range(len(string[i])) :
# Incrementing the count of
# the character in the hash
hash[ord(string[i][j]) - ord('a')] += 1;
# Finding the character
# with the maximum count
max = 0;
for i in range(26) :
max = i if hash[i] > hash[max] else max;
print((chr)(max + 97));
# Driver code
if __name__ == "__main__" :
# Declaring Vector of String type
string = [];
string.append("animal");
string.append("zebra");
string.append("lion");
string.append("giraffe");
findMostOccurringChar(string);
# This code is contributed by AnkitRai01
// C# program to print the most occurring
// character in an array of Strings
using System;
class GFG
{
// Function to print the most occurring character
static void findMostOccurringChar(string []str)
{
// Creating a hash of size 26
int []hash = new int[26];
// For loop to iterate through
// every String of the array
for (int i = 0; i < str.Length; i++)
{
// For loop to iterate through
// every character of the String
for (int j = 0; j < str[i].Length; j++)
{
// Incrementing the count of
// the character in the hash
hash[str[i][j]-97]++;
}
}
// Finding the character
// with the maximum count
int max = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < 26; i++)
{
max = hash[i] > hash[max] ? i : max;
}
Console.Write((char)(max + 97) +"\n");
}
// Driver code
public static void Main(String[] args)
{
// Declaring Vector of String type
string []str = {"animal","zebra","lion","giraffe"};
findMostOccurringChar(str);
}
}
// This code is contributed by AnkitRai01
<script>
// JavaScript program to print the most occurring
// character in an array of strings
// Function to print the most occurring character
function findMostOccurringChar(str)
{
// Creating a hash of size 26
var hash = Array(26).fill(0);
// For loop to iterate through
// every string of the array
for (var i = 0; i < str.length; i++)
{
// For loop to iterate through
// every character of the string
for (var j = 0; j < str[i].length; j++)
{
// Incrementing the count of
// the character in the hash
hash[str[i][j]]++;
}
}
// Finding the character
// with the maximum count
var max = 0;
for (var i = 0; i < 26; i++) {
max = hash[i] > hash[max] ? i : max;
}
document.write(String.fromCharCode(max + 97));
}
// Driver code
// Declaring Vector of String type
var str = [];
str.push("animal");
str.push("zebra");
str.push("lion");
str.push("giraffe");
findMostOccurringChar(str);
</script>
Time Complexity: O(n * l), where n is the size of the given vector of strings and l is the maximum length of a string in the given vector.
Auxiliary Space: O(26) ? O(1), no extra space is required, so it is a constant.
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