Less complicated version of what you wrote would be:
<pre>
<code>
states = ["alabama","alaska", ... ,"wyoming",]
sset = set()
for s1 in xrange(len(states)):
for s2 in xrange(s1+1, len(states)):
ss = ''.join(sorted(states[s1] + states[s2]))
if ss in sset:
print states[s1], states[s2]
exit(0)
else:
sset.add(ss)
</code>
</pre>
Jam - 2008-10-27 19:08:54.705851
Less complicated version of what you wrote would be: <pre> <code> states = ["alabama","alaska", ... ,"wyoming",] sset = set() for s1 in xrange(len(states)): for s2 in xrange(s1+1, len(states)): ss = ''.join(sorted(states[s1] + states[s2])) if ss in sset: print states[s1], states[s2] exit(0) else: sset.add(ss) </code> </pre>