Algorithm to generate all possible permutations of

Question

Say I have a list of n elements, I know there are n! possible ways to order these elements. What is an algorithm to generate all possible orderings of this list? Example, I have list [a, b, c]. The algorithm would return [[a, b, c], [a, c, b,], [b, a, c], [b, c, a], [c, a, b], [c, b, a]].

I'm reading this here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permutation#Algorithms_to_generate_permutations

But Wikipedia has never been good at explaining. I don't understand much of it.

Answer 1

In the following Java solution we take advantage over the fact that Strings are immutable in order to avoid cloning the result-set upon every iteration.

The input will be a String, say "abc", and the output will be all the possible permutations:

abc
acb
bac
bca
cba
cab

Code:

public static void permute(String s) {
    permute(s, 0);
}

private static void permute(String str, int left){
    if(left == str.length()-1) {
        System.out.println(str);
    } else {
        for(int i = left; i < str.length(); i++) {
            String s = swap(str, left, i);
            permute(s, left+1);
        }
    }
}

private static String swap(String s, int left, int right) {
    if (left == right)
        return s;

    String result = s.substring(0, left);
    result += s.substring(right, right+1);
    result += s.substring(left+1, right);
    result += s.substring(left, left+1);
    result += s.substring(right+1);
    return result;
}

Same approach can be applied to arrays (instead of a string):

public static void main(String[] args) {
    int[] abc = {1,2,3};
    permute(abc, 0);
}
public static void permute(int[] arr, int index) {
    if (index == arr.length) {
        System.out.println(Arrays.toString(arr));
    } else {
        for (int i = index; i < arr.length; i++) {
            int[] permutation = arr.clone();
            permutation[index] = arr[i];
            permutation[i] = arr[index];
            permute(permutation, index + 1);
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

Recursive always takes some mental effort to maintain. And for big numbers, factorial is easily huge and stack overflow will easily be a problem.

For small numbers (3 or 4, which is mostly encountered), multiple loops are quite simple and straight forward. It is unfortunate answers with loops didn't get voted up.

Let's start with enumeration (rather than permutation). Simply read the code as pseudo perl code.

$foreach $i1 in @list
    $foreach $i2 in @list 
        $foreach $i3 in @list
            print "$i1, $i2, $i3\n"

Enumeration is more often encountered than permutation, but if permutation is needed, just add the conditions:

$foreach $i1 in @list
    $foreach $i2 in @list 
        $if $i2==$i1
            next
        $foreach $i3 in @list
            $if $i3==$i1 or $i3==$i2
                next
            print "$i1, $i2, $i3\n"

Now if you really need general method potentially for big lists, we can use radix method. First, consider the enumeration problem:

$n=@list
my @radix
$for $i=0:$n
    $radix[$i]=0
$while 1
    my @temp
    $for $i=0:$n
        push @temp, $list[$radix[$i]]
    print join(", ", @temp), "\n"
    $call radix_increment

subcode: radix_increment
    $i=0
    $while 1
        $radix[$i]++
        $if $radix[$i]==$n
            $radix[$i]=0
            $i++
        $else
            last
    $if $i>=$n
        last

Radix increment is essentially number counting (in the base of number of list elements).

Now if you need permutaion, just add the checks inside the loop:

subcode: check_permutation
    my @check
    my $flag_dup=0
    $for $i=0:$n
        $check[$radix[$i]]++
        $if $check[$radix[$i]]>1
            $flag_dup=1
            last
    $if $flag_dup
        next

Edit: The above code should work, but for permutation, radix_increment could be wasteful. So if time is a practical concern, we have to change radix_increment into permute_inc:

subcode: permute_init
    $for $i=0:$n
        $radix[$i]=$i

subcode: permute_inc                                       
    $max=-1                                                
    $for $i=$n:0                                           
        $if $max<$radix[$i]                                
            $max=$radix[$i]                                
        $else                                              
            $for $j=$n:0                                   
                $if $radix[$j]>$radix[$i]                  
                    $call swap, $radix[$i], $radix[$j]     
                    break                                  
            $j=$i+1                                        
            $k=$n-1                                        
            $while $j<$k                                   
                $call swap, $radix[$j], $radix[$k]         
                $j++                                       
                $k--                                       
            break                                          
    $if $i<0                                               
        break                                              

Of course now this code is logically more complex, I'll leave for reader's exercise.

Answer 3

Here's an implementation for ColdFusion (requires CF10 because of the merge argument to ArrayAppend() ):

public array function permutateArray(arr){

    if (not isArray(arguments.arr) ) {
        return ['The ARR argument passed to the permutateArray function is not of type array.'];    
    }

    var len = arrayLen(arguments.arr);
    var perms = [];
    var rest = [];
    var restPerms = [];
    var rpLen = 0;
    var next = [];

    //for one or less item there is only one permutation 
    if (len <= 1) {
        return arguments.arr;
    }

    for (var i=1; i <= len; i++) {
        // copy the original array so as not to change it and then remove the picked (current) element
        rest = arraySlice(arguments.arr, 1);
        arrayDeleteAt(rest, i);

         // recursively get the permutation of the rest of the elements
         restPerms = permutateArray(rest);
         rpLen = arrayLen(restPerms);

        // Now concat each permutation to the current (picked) array, and append the concatenated array to the end result
        for (var j=1; j <= rpLen; j++) {
            // for each array returned, we need to make a fresh copy of the picked(current) element array so as to not change the original array
            next = arraySlice(arguments.arr, i, 1);
            arrayAppend(next, restPerms[j], true);
            arrayAppend(perms, next);
        }
     }

    return perms;
}

Based on KhanSharp's js solution above.

Answer 4

public class PermutationGenerator
{
    private LinkedList<List<int>> _permutationsList;
    public void FindPermutations(List<int> list, int permutationLength)
    {
        _permutationsList = new LinkedList<List<int>>();
        foreach(var value in list)
        {
            CreatePermutations(value, permutationLength);
        }
    }

    private void CreatePermutations(int value, int permutationLength)
    {
        var node = _permutationsList.First;
        var last = _permutationsList.Last;
        while (node != null)
        {
            if (node.Value.Count < permutationLength)
            {
                GeneratePermutations(node.Value, value, permutationLength);
            }
            if (node == last)
            {
                break;
            }
            node = node.Next;
        }

        List<int> permutation = new List<int>();
        permutation.Add(value);
        _permutationsList.AddLast(permutation);
    }

    private void GeneratePermutations(List<int> permutation, int value, int permutationLength)
    {
       if (permutation.Count < permutationLength)
        {
            List<int> copyOfInitialPermutation = new List<int>(permutation);
            copyOfInitialPermutation.Add(value);
            _permutationsList.AddLast(copyOfInitialPermutation);
            List<int> copyOfPermutation = new List<int>();
            copyOfPermutation.AddRange(copyOfInitialPermutation);
            int lastIndex = copyOfInitialPermutation.Count - 1;
            for (int i = lastIndex;i > 0;i--)
            {
                int temp = copyOfPermutation[i - 1];
                copyOfPermutation[i - 1] = copyOfPermutation[i];
                copyOfPermutation[i] = temp;

                List<int> perm = new List<int>();
                perm.AddRange(copyOfPermutation);
                _permutationsList.AddLast(perm);
            }
        }
    }

    public void PrintPermutations(int permutationLength)
    {
        int count = _permutationsList.Where(perm => perm.Count() == permutationLength).Count();
        Console.WriteLine("The number of permutations is " + count);
    }
}

Answer 5

I have written this recursive solution in ANSI C. Each execution of the Permutate function provides one different permutation until all are completed. Global variables can also be used for variables fact and count.

#include <stdio.h>
#define SIZE 4

void Rotate(int vec[], int size)
{
    int i, j, first;

    first = vec[0];
    for(j = 0, i = 1; i < size; i++, j++)
    {
        vec[j] = vec[i];
    }
    vec[j] = first;
}

int Permutate(int *start, int size, int *count)
{
    static int fact;

    if(size > 1)
    {
        if(Permutate(start + 1, size - 1, count))
        {
            Rotate(start, size);
        }
        fact *= size;
    }
    else
    {
        (*count)++;
        fact = 1;
    }

    return !(*count % fact);
}

void Show(int vec[], int size)
{
    int i;

    printf("%d", vec[0]);
    for(i = 1; i < size; i++)
    {
        printf(" %d", vec[i]);
    }
    putchar('\n');
}

int main()
{
    int vec[] = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 }; /* Only the first SIZE items will be permutated */
    int count = 0;

    do
    {
        Show(vec, SIZE);
    } while(!Permutate(vec, SIZE, &count));

    putchar('\n');
    Show(vec, SIZE);
    printf("\nCount: %d\n\n", count);

    return 0;
}

Answer 6

// C program to print all permutations with duplicates allowed
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

/* Function to swap values at two pointers */
void swap(char *x, char *y)
{
    char temp;
    temp = *x;
    *x = *y;
    *y = temp;
}

/* Function to print permutations of string
   This function takes three parameters:
   1. String
   2. Starting index of the string
   3. Ending index of the string. */

void permute(char *a, int l, int r)
{
   int i;
   if (l == r)
     printf("%s\n", a);
   else
   {
       for (i = l; i <= r; i++)
       {
          swap((a+l), (a+i));
          permute(a, l+1, r);
          swap((a+l), (a+i)); //backtrack
       }
   }
}

/* Driver program to test above functions */
int main()
{
    char str[] = "ABC";
    int n = strlen(str);
    permute(str, 0, n-1);
    return 0;
}

Reference: Geeksforgeeks.org