Textual maze solver

ANSI C (384 373 368 characters)

Here's my C attempt. Compiled and run on Mac OS X.

m[9999],*r=m,*s=m,c,R=0,*a,L;
P(){while(*s++)putchar(*(s-1));}
C(int*l){if((l-s+2)%R==0||(l-s)%R==0||l-s<R||l>r-R)*l=42,P(),exit(0);}
e(int*l){if(*l==32)C(l),*l=42,e(l-1),*l=32,*l=42,e(l-R),*l=32,*l=42,e(l+1),*l=32,*l=42,e(l+R),*l=32;}
main(){while(~(c=getchar()))*r++=c,R=!R&&c==10?r-s:R,L=c==64?r-s-1:L;L%R==0&&e(s+L+1);(L+2)%R==0&&e(s+L-1);L<R&&e(s+L+R);e(s+L-R);}

Sample output for a couple of tests:

####   
#  #   
@*#####
#*****#
#    *#
#####*#

###*###################
###*        #******** #
##**#########**    #* #
 #*************#####* #
 ###############   #@##

Limitations: Only works for mazes up to 1000 characters, but this can easily be increased. I just picked an arbitrary number rather than bother to malloc/remalloc.

Also, this is the most warning-laden code I've ever written. 19 warnings, though it looks like even more with the XCode code highlighting. :D

EDITS: Edited and tested to drop int from main, to use ~ instead of !=EOF and putchar instead of printf. Thanks for the comments!

Ruby 1.9, 244 characters

l=*$<
i=l*""
e=[]
d=[1,-1,x=l[0].size,-x]
r=[f=9e9]*s=x*b=l.size;r[i=~/@/]=0
r.map{i.gsub(/ /){r[p=$`.size]=d.map{|u|p>-u&&r[u+p]||f}.min+1;e<<p if p%x%~-~-x*(p/-~x%~-b)<1}}
r[g=e.find{|i|r[i]<f}].times{i[g]=?*;g+=d.find{|l|r[g]>r[g+l]}}
puts i

Output for the two examples:

####   
#  #   
@*#####
#*    #
#******
#######

###*###################
###*        #     *** #
## *######### *****#* #
 # ************#####* #
 ###############   #@##

Edits:

• (247 -> 245) Inlined e and renamed it to g
• (245 -> 249) Fix a bug when the exit is directly above the entrance
• (249 -> 246) Inlining + simplifications
• (246 -> 244) Shorter way to iterate over every field

Python, 339 chars

import sys
M=list(sys.stdin.read())
L=len(M)
R=range(L)
N=M.index('\n')+1
D=2*L*[9e9]
D[M.index('@')+N]=0
J=(1,-1,N,-N)
for x in R:
 for i in[N+i for i in R if' '==M[i]]:D[i]=min(1+D[i+j]for j in J)
e=[i+N for i in R[:N]+R[::N]+R[N-2::N]+R[-N:]if 0<D[i+N]<9e9][0]
while D[e]:M[e-N]='*';e=[e+j for j in J if D[e+j]<D[e]][0]
print''.join(M)

Generates a shortest path through the maze.

Output for example mazes:

####   
#  #   
@*#####
#*    #
#******
#######

###*###################
###*        #     *** #
## *######### *****#* #
 # ************#####* #
 ###############   #@##