AdventOfCode/2017/09/9.md

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## \-\-- Day 9: Stream Processing \-\--
A large stream blocks your path. According to the locals, it\'s not safe
to [cross the
stream]{title="\"Don't cross the streams!\", they yell, even though there's only one. They seem to think they're hilarious."}
at the moment because it\'s full of *garbage*. You look down at the
stream; rather than water, you discover that it\'s a *stream of
characters*.
You sit for a while and record part of the stream (your puzzle input).
The characters represent *groups* - sequences that begin with `{` and
end with `}`. Within a group, there are zero or more other things,
separated by commas: either another *group* or *garbage*. Since groups
can contain other groups, a `}` only closes the *most-recently-opened
unclosed group* - that is, they are nestable. Your puzzle input
represents a single, large group which itself contains many smaller
ones.
Sometimes, instead of a group, you will find *garbage*. Garbage begins
with `<` and ends with `>`. Between those angle brackets, almost any
character can appear, including `{` and `}`. *Within* garbage, `<` has
no special meaning.
In a futile attempt to clean up the garbage, some program has *canceled*
some of the characters within it using `!`: inside garbage, *any*
character that comes after `!` should be *ignored*, including `<`, `>`,
and even another `!`.
You don\'t see any characters that deviate from these rules. Outside
garbage, you only find well-formed groups, and garbage always terminates
according to the rules above.
Here are some self-contained pieces of garbage:
- `<>`, empty garbage.
- `<random characters>`, garbage containing random characters.
- `<<<<>`, because the extra `<` are ignored.
- `<{!>}>`, because the first `>` is canceled.
- `<!!>`, because the second `!` is canceled, allowing the `>` to
terminate the garbage.
- `<!!!>>`, because the second `!` and the first `>` are canceled.
- `<{o"i!a,<{i<a>`, which ends at the first `>`.
Here are some examples of whole streams and the number of groups they
contain:
- `{}`, `1` group.
- `{{{}}}`, `3` groups.
- `{{},{}}`, also `3` groups.
- `{{{},{},{{}}}}`, `6` groups.
- `{<{},{},{{}}>}`, `1` group (which itself contains garbage).
- `{<a>,<a>,<a>,<a>}`, `1` group.
- `{{<a>},{<a>},{<a>},{<a>}}`, `5` groups.
- `{{<!>},{<!>},{<!>},{<a>}}`, `2` groups (since all but the last `>`
are canceled).
Your goal is to find the total score for all groups in your input. Each
group is assigned a *score* which is one more than the score of the
group that immediately contains it. (The outermost group gets a score of
`1`.)
- `{}`, score of `1`.
- `{{{}}}`, score of `1 + 2 + 3 = 6`.
- `{{},{}}`, score of `1 + 2 + 2 = 5`.
- `{{{},{},{{}}}}`, score of `1 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 4 = 16`.
- `{<a>,<a>,<a>,<a>}`, score of `1`.
- `{{<ab>},{<ab>},{<ab>},{<ab>}}`, score of `1 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 9`.
- `{{<!!>},{<!!>},{<!!>},{<!!>}}`, score of `1 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 9`.
- `{{<a!>},{<a!>},{<a!>},{<ab>}}`, score of `1 + 2 = 3`.
*What is the total score* for all groups in your input?
To begin, [get your puzzle input](9/input).
Answer: