Smart way to generate permutation and combination of String

Question

String database[] = {'a', 'b', 'c'};

I would like to generate the following strings sequence, based on given database.

a
b
c
aa
ab
ac
ba
bb
bc
ca
cb
cc
aaa
...

I can only think of a pretty "dummy" solution.

public class JavaApplication21 {

    /**
     * @param args the command line arguments
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        char[] database = {'a', 'b', 'c'};

        String query = "a";
        StringBuilder query_sb = new StringBuilder(query);
        for (int a = 0; a < database.length; a++) {
            query_sb.setCharAt(0, database[a]);
            query = query_sb.toString();                    
            System.out.println(query);            
        }

        query = "aa";
        query_sb = new StringBuilder(query);
        for (int a = 0; a < database.length; a++) {
            query_sb.setCharAt(0, database[a]);    
            for (int b = 0; b < database.length; b++) {    
                query_sb.setCharAt(1, database[b]);    
                query = query_sb.toString();                    
                System.out.println(query);
            }
        }

        query = "aaa";
        query_sb = new StringBuilder(query);
        for (int a = 0; a < database.length; a++) {
            query_sb.setCharAt(0, database[a]);    
            for (int b = 0; b < database.length; b++) {    
                query_sb.setCharAt(1, database[b]);    
                for (int c = 0; c < database.length; c++) {                    
                    query_sb.setCharAt(2, database[c]);                        
                    query = query_sb.toString();                    
                    System.out.println(query);
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

The solution is pretty dumb. It is not scale-able in the sense that

What if I increase the size of database?
What if my final targeted print String length need to be N?

Is there any smart code, which can generate scale-able permutation and combination string in a really smart way?

In Python, it's very simple, haha. `print ''.join(query) for query in itertools.combinations_with_replacement(database, length) for length in range(1,N+1)` — justhalf, Nov 15 '13 at 03:52

justhalf · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-10T18:27:36.933

You should check this answer: Getting every possible permutation of a string or combination including repeated characters in Java

To get this code:

public static String[] getAllLists(String[] elements, int lengthOfList)
{

    //lists of length 1 are just the original elements
    if(lengthOfList == 1) return elements; 
    else {
        //initialize our returned list with the number of elements calculated above
        String[] allLists = new String[(int)Math.pow(elements.length, lengthOfList)];

        //the recursion--get all lists of length 3, length 2, all the way up to 1
        String[] allSublists = getAllLists(elements, lengthOfList - 1);

        //append the sublists to each element
        int arrayIndex = 0;

        for(int i = 0; i < elements.length; i++){
            for(int j = 0; j < allSublists.length; j++){
                //add the newly appended combination to the list
                allLists[arrayIndex] = elements[i] + allSublists[j];
                arrayIndex++;
            }
        }
        return allLists;
    }
}

public static void main(String[] args){
    String[] database = {"a","b","c"};
    for(int i=1; i<=database.length; i++){
        String[] result = getAllLists(database, i);
        for(int j=0; j<result.length; j++){
            System.out.println(result[j]);
        }
    }
}

Although further improvement in memory could be made, since this solution generates all solution to memory first (the array), before we can print it. But the idea is the same, which is to use recursive algorithm.

A minor comment: `allLists` initialisation is best moved inside the else (main) case — almondandapricot, Feb 10 '19 at 17:18

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

3

This smells like counting in binary:

001
010
011
100
101
...

My first instinct would be to use a binary counter as a "bitmap" of characters to generate those the possible values. However, there are several wonderful answer to related questions here that suggest using recursion. See

edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

Community

1
1

answered Nov 15 '13 at 03:52

dj_segfault

11,957
4
29
37

This would be true but for the fact that `aa` is a valid permutation. – Floris Nov 15 '13 at 03:54
I think instead of using binary, it can also easily be done using higher bases. since he has three elements it can be done it in base 3 – vandale Nov 15 '13 at 03:55
Still not scalable... Next time he has four elements in `database`. But you are getting closer... – Floris Nov 15 '13 at 03:56
well if he has n elements in his database he can do it in base n – vandale Nov 15 '13 at 03:57
1

"if he has n elements in his database, he can do it in base n" -> this is exactly what the OP asked. haha – justhalf Nov 15 '13 at 04:15

Vikram Bhat · Answer 3 · 2013-11-15T04:47:39.870

Java implementation of your permutation generator:-

public class Permutations {


    public static void permGen(char[] s,int i,int k,char[] buff) {
        if(i<k) {
            for(int j=0;j<s.length;j++) {

                buff[i] = s[j];
                permGen(s,i+1,k,buff);
            }
        }       
        else {

         System.out.println(String.valueOf(buff)); 

        }

    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        char[] database = {'a', 'b', 'c'};
        char[] buff = new char[database.length];
        int k = database.length;
        for(int i=1;i<=k;i++) {
            permGen(database,0,i,buff);
        }

}

}

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 15 '13 at 04:00

Ok, so the best solution to permutations is recursion. Say you had n different letters in the string. That would produce n sub problems, one for each set of permutations starting with each unique letter. Create a method permutationsWithPrefix(String thePrefix, String theString) which will solve these individual problems. Create another method listPermutations(String theString) a implementation would be something like

void permutationsWithPrefix(String thePrefix, String theString) {
   if ( !theString.length ) println(thePrefix + theString);
   for(int i = 0; i < theString.length; i ++ ) {
      char c = theString.charAt(i);
      String workingOn = theString.subString(0, i) + theString.subString(i+1);   
      permutationsWithPrefix(prefix + c, workingOn);
   }
} 

void listPermutations(String theString) {
   permutationsWithPrefix("", theString);
}

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 28 '14 at 19:38

i came across this question as one of the interview question. Following is the solution that i have implemented for this problem using recursion.

public class PasswordCracker {

private List<String> doComputations(String inputString) {

    List<String> totalList =  new ArrayList<String>();
    for (int i = 1; i <= inputString.length(); i++) {

        totalList.addAll(getCombinationsPerLength(inputString, i));
    }
    return totalList;

}

private ArrayList<String> getCombinationsPerLength(
        String inputString, int i) {

    ArrayList<String> combinations = new ArrayList<String>();

    if (i == 1) {

        char [] charArray = inputString.toCharArray();
        for (int j = 0; j < charArray.length; j++) {
            combinations.add(((Character)charArray[j]).toString());
        }
        return combinations;
    }
    for (int j = 0; j < inputString.length(); j++) {

        ArrayList<String> combs = getCombinationsPerLength(inputString, i-1);
        for (String string : combs) {
            combinations.add(inputString.charAt(j) + string);
        }
    }

    return combinations;
}
public static void main(String args[]) {

    String testString = "abc";
    PasswordCracker crackerTest = new PasswordCracker();
    System.out.println(crackerTest.doComputations(testString));

}
}

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Sep 22 '16 at 13:41

For anyone looking for non-recursive options, here is a sample for numeric permutations (can easily be adapted to char. numberOfAgents is the number of columns and the set of numbers is 0 to numberOfActions:

    int numberOfAgents=5;
    int numberOfActions = 8;
    byte[][]combinations = new byte[(int)Math.pow(numberOfActions,numberOfAgents)][numberOfAgents];

    // do each column separately
    for (byte j = 0; j < numberOfAgents; j++) {
        // for this column, repeat each option in the set 'reps' times
        int reps = (int) Math.pow(numberOfActions, j);

        // for each column, repeat the whole set of options until we reach the end
        int counter=0;
        while(counter<combinations.length) {
            // for each option
            for (byte i = 0; i < numberOfActions; i++) {
                // save each option 'reps' times
                for (int k = 0; k < reps; k++)
                    combinations[counter + i * reps + k][j] = i;
            }
            // increase counter by 'reps' times amount of actions
            counter+=reps*numberOfActions;
        }
    }

    // print
    for(byte[] setOfActions : combinations) {
        for (byte b : setOfActions)
            System.out.print(b);
        System.out.println();
    }

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Jul 30 '17 at 12:21

// IF YOU NEED REPEATITION USE ARRAYLIST INSTEAD OF SET!!

import java.util.*;
public class Permutation {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Scanner in=new Scanner(System.in);
        System.out.println("ENTER A STRING");
        Set<String> se=find(in.nextLine());
        System.out.println((se));
    }
    public static Set<String> find(String s)
    {
        Set<String> ss=new HashSet<String>();
        if(s==null)
        {
            return null;
        }
        if(s.length()==0)
        {
            ss.add("");
        }
        else
        {
            char c=s.charAt(0);
            String st=s.substring(1);
            Set<String> qq=find(st);
            for(String str:qq)
            {
                for(int i=0;i<=str.length();i++)
                {
                    ss.add(comb(str,c,i));
                }
            }
        }
        return ss;

    }
    public static String comb(String s,char c,int i)
    {
        String start=s.substring(0,i);
        String end=s.substring(i);
        return start+c+end;
    }

}


// IF YOU NEED REPEATITION USE ARRAYLIST INSTEAD OF SET!!

Smart way to generate permutation and combination of String

7 Answers7

Linked