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Hi guys I am having problems with finding the longest word available in WordList["English"] I have found that the longest word has 24 characters thanks to this line 

Max[StringLength[WordList[]]]

but I don't know how to find the position of the word Knowing her length. I thought I need some selection rule but I fail to implement it. any help?

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  • $\begingroup$ So you want to know the longest word, its position in the list or both? $\endgroup$
    – Kuba
    Commented Aug 14, 2016 at 10:45
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    $\begingroup$ Answer to the title: MaximalBy[StringLength]@WordList[]. $\endgroup$
    – Kuba
    Commented Aug 14, 2016 at 10:46
  • $\begingroup$ the word, however i think i need the position to use Take[WordList[],n]... $\endgroup$
    – Alucard
    Commented Aug 14, 2016 at 10:46
  • $\begingroup$ You need the position for Take but don't assume you need Take. $\endgroup$
    – Kuba
    Commented Aug 14, 2016 at 10:47
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    $\begingroup$ Now that you know that the longest entry in WordList[] is 24 characters long, why not Select[] all the entries in it whose StringLength[] is == 24? (This is one of the things I like about this language; sometimes the solution statement directly translates to usable code.) $\endgroup$
    – J. M.'s missing motivation ♦
    Commented Aug 14, 2016 at 10:48

2 Answers 2

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ok one solution I found, aside the one given by Kuba , is 

length = Max[StringLength[WordList[]]]
Select[WordList[], StringLength[#] == length & ]

a second solution with the function Pick[] is

Pick[WordList[], StringLength[WordList[]], length]

A third one with Cases[]

f = StringLength[#] == 24 &;
Cases[WordList[], x_ /; f[x]]

a BarChart with the absolutetiming:

absolute timing of the different functions

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  • $\begingroup$ Well done. If you need further exercise, think about how to implement this with Pick[] or Cases[]. $\endgroup$
    – J. M.'s missing motivation ♦
    Commented Aug 14, 2016 at 11:13
  • $\begingroup$ @J.M. i will thanks $\endgroup$
    – Alucard
    Commented Aug 14, 2016 at 11:18
  • $\begingroup$ @J.M. i found the two additional solutions but i did not understand the difference between the patterns used with Cases and the function with select[].what's the difference?they do exactly the same thing... $\endgroup$
    – Alucard
    Commented Aug 14, 2016 at 12:44
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    $\begingroup$ @Alucard This post should answer your question. $\endgroup$
    – user31159
    Commented Aug 14, 2016 at 14:36
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With TakeLargestBy we can get the word and its length

TakeLargestBy[WordList[] -> {"Element", "Value"}, StringLength, 1]

{{"electroencephalographic", 23}}

The 10 longest words:

TakeLargestBy[WordList[] -> {"Element", "Value"}, StringLength, 10] // TableForm

enter image description here

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