<?php $rucksacks = explode("\n", file_get_contents('./input.txt')); $lettersToNumbers = array_merge(range('a', 'z'), range('A', 'Z')); $groups = array_chunk($rucksacks, 3); echo array_sum( array_map( static function($rucksacks) use ($lettersToNumbers) { [$f, $s, $t] = array_map('str_split', $rucksacks); return array_search(current(array_intersect($f, $s, $t)), $lettersToNumbers, true) + 1; }, $groups ) );