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Getting Started

Introduction

The python-constraint module offers efficient solvers for Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSPs) over finite domains in an accessible Python package. CSP is class of problems which may be represented in terms of variables (a, b, ...), domains (a in [1, 2, 3], ...), and constraints (a < b, ...).

Examples

Basics

This interactive Python session demonstrates basic operations:

>>> from constraint import *
>>> problem = Problem()
>>> problem.addVariable("a", [1,2,3])
>>> problem.addVariable("b", [4,5,6])
>>> problem.getSolutions()
[{'a': 3, 'b': 6}, {'a': 3, 'b': 5}, {'a': 3, 'b': 4},
 {'a': 2, 'b': 6}, {'a': 2, 'b': 5}, {'a': 2, 'b': 4},
 {'a': 1, 'b': 6}, {'a': 1, 'b': 5}, {'a': 1, 'b': 4}]

>>> problem.addConstraint(lambda a, b: a*2 == b,
                          ("a", "b"))
>>> problem.getSolutions()
[{'a': 3, 'b': 6}, {'a': 2, 'b': 4}]

>>> problem = Problem()
>>> problem.addVariables(["a", "b"], [1, 2, 3])
>>> problem.addConstraint(AllDifferentConstraint())
>>> problem.getSolutions()
[{'a': 3, 'b': 2}, {'a': 3, 'b': 1}, {'a': 2, 'b': 3},
 {'a': 2, 'b': 1}, {'a': 1, 'b': 2}, {'a': 1, 'b': 3}]

Rooks problem

The following example solves the classical Eight Rooks problem:

>>> problem = Problem()
>>> numpieces = 8
>>> cols = range(numpieces)
>>> rows = range(numpieces)
>>> problem.addVariables(cols, rows)
>>> for col1 in cols:
...     for col2 in cols:
...         if col1 < col2:
...             problem.addConstraint(lambda row1, row2: row1 != row2,
...                                   (col1, col2))
>>> solutions = problem.getSolutions()
>>> solutions
>>> solutions
[{0: 7, 1: 6, 2: 5, 3: 4, 4: 3, 5: 2, 6: 1, 7: 0},
 {0: 7, 1: 6, 2: 5, 3: 4, 4: 3, 5: 2, 6: 0, 7: 1},
 {0: 7, 1: 6, 2: 5, 3: 4, 4: 3, 5: 1, 6: 2, 7: 0},
 {0: 7, 1: 6, 2: 5, 3: 4, 4: 3, 5: 1, 6: 0, 7: 2},
 ...
 {0: 7, 1: 5, 2: 3, 3: 6, 4: 2, 5: 1, 6: 4, 7: 0},
 {0: 7, 1: 5, 2: 3, 3: 6, 4: 1, 5: 2, 6: 0, 7: 4},
 {0: 7, 1: 5, 2: 3, 3: 6, 4: 1, 5: 2, 6: 4, 7: 0},
 {0: 7, 1: 5, 2: 3, 3: 6, 4: 1, 5: 4, 6: 2, 7: 0},
 {0: 7, 1: 5, 2: 3, 3: 6, 4: 1, 5: 4, 6: 0, 7: 2},
 ...]

Magic squares

This example solves a 4x4 magic square:

>>> problem = Problem()
>>> problem.addVariables(range(0, 16), range(1, 16 + 1))
>>> problem.addConstraint(AllDifferentConstraint(), range(0, 16))
>>> problem.addConstraint(ExactSumConstraint(34), [0, 5, 10, 15])
>>> problem.addConstraint(ExactSumConstraint(34), [3, 6, 9, 12])
>>> for row in range(4):
...     problem.addConstraint(ExactSumConstraint(34),
                              [row * 4 + i for i in range(4)])
>>> for col in range(4):
...     problem.addConstraint(ExactSumConstraint(34),
                              [col + 4 * i for i in range(4)])
>>> solutions = problem.getSolutions()

Features

The following solvers are available:

  • Backtracking solver
  • Optimized backtracking solver
  • Recursive backtracking solver
  • Minimum conflicts solver

Predefined constraint types currently available:

Download and install

$ pip install python-constraint2