From 07b429af74ec30af14cebd28ad0ed15f3f92ebda Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "Capt. Cutlass" <5120290+ParanoidUser@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2025 11:02:44 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] refactor: revise obsolete solution logic

Return zero-size array with directions
for empty input path.
---
 kata/6-kyu/shorter-path/main/ShortestPath.java   | 4 ++--
 kata/6-kyu/shorter-path/test/DirectionsTest.java | 7 ++++++-
 2 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/kata/6-kyu/shorter-path/main/ShortestPath.java b/kata/6-kyu/shorter-path/main/ShortestPath.java
index f0b737e41..e8d84d024 100644
--- a/kata/6-kyu/shorter-path/main/ShortestPath.java
+++ b/kata/6-kyu/shorter-path/main/ShortestPath.java
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ static String[] directions(String[] goal) {
     var stats = of(goal).collect(groupingBy(identity(), counting()));
     int y = (int) (stats.getOrDefault("N", 0L) - stats.getOrDefault("S", 0L));
     int x = (int) (stats.getOrDefault("E", 0L) - stats.getOrDefault("W", 0L));
-    return (
+    return x != 0 || y != 0  ? (
         "N".repeat(Math.max(0, y)) + "S".repeat(Math.max(0, -y)) +
         "E".repeat(Math.max(0, x)) + "W".repeat(Math.max(0, -x))
-    ).split("");
+    ).split("") : new String[0];
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/kata/6-kyu/shorter-path/test/DirectionsTest.java b/kata/6-kyu/shorter-path/test/DirectionsTest.java
index f2ef4b5ae..623b5fdcd 100644
--- a/kata/6-kyu/shorter-path/test/DirectionsTest.java
+++ b/kata/6-kyu/shorter-path/test/DirectionsTest.java
@@ -7,10 +7,15 @@ class DirectionsTest {
   @ParameterizedTest
   @CsvSource(textBlock = """
       NNNNNENN, NNNNNNNE
+      SSNEWNWSE, S
       SSNEWSN, S
       NWSE,''
+      N, N
+      '', ''
       """)
   void sample(String path, String shortest) {
-    assertArrayEquals(shortest.split(""), ShortestPath.directions(path.split("")));
+    String[] goal = path.isEmpty() ? new String[0] : path.split("");
+    String[] expected = shortest.isEmpty() ? new String[0] : shortest.split("");
+    assertArrayEquals(expected, ShortestPath.directions(goal));
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file