Here's a regex solution. It will find a solution if one exists, and will run reasonably fast, all things considered. 
   my $desired_page_count = 10;
    # Structure holding all the different page layouts. ('l' = Landsca
+pe, 'p' = Portrait)
    my $pages = {
        ll   => '01',
        pp   => '02',
        lp   => '03',
        pl   => '04',
        lpp  => '05',
        pll  => '06',
        plp  => '07',
        lpl  => '08',
        lll  => '09',
        ppp  => '10',
        ppl  => '11',
        llp  => '12',
        ppll => '13',
        llpp => '14',
    };
   my $regex = join '|', keys %$pages;
   print "Regex is $regex\n";

   my $photos = "llppllpplpppllplpplpplpllplpll";

   my $pages_left = $desired_page_count - 1;
   while ($photos =~ s/^($regex)(?=(?:$regex){$pages_left}$)//) {
      print "$1\n";
      # Reorder the regex so that the most-recently-used is the last o
+ption
      $regex = join '|', (grep {$_ ne $1} keys %$pages), $1;
      --$pages_left;
   }
   print "Failed to layout the whole set: $photos does not match $rege
+x\n" if $photos;

[download]
Caution: Contents may have been coded under pressure.

In reply to Re: Algorithm to fit photos into spaces on pages by Roy Johnson
in thread Algorithm to fit photos into spaces on pages by SmugX

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