Permutations in JavaScript?

Question

I'm trying to write a function that does the following:

• takes an array of integers as an argument (e.g. [1,2,3,4])
• creates an array of all the possible permutations of [1,2,3,4], with each permutation having a length of 4

the function below (I found it online) does this by taking a string as an argument, and returning all the permutations of that string

I could not figure out how to modify it to make it work with an array of integers, (I think this has something to do with how some of the methods work differently on strings than they do on integers, but I'm not sure...)

var permArr = [], usedChars = [];
function permute(input) {
  var i, ch, chars = input.split("");
  for (i = 0; i < chars.length; i++) {
    ch = chars.splice(i, 1);
    usedChars.push(ch);
    if (chars.length == 0)
      permArr[permArr.length] = usedChars.join("");
    permute(chars.join(""));
    chars.splice(i, 0, ch);
    usedChars.pop();
  }
  return permArr
};

Note: I'm looking to make the function return arrays of integers, not an array of strings.

I really need the solution to be in JavaScript. I've already figured out how to do this in python

Answer 1

Similar in spirit to the Haskell-style solution by @crl, but working with reduce:

function permutations( base ) {
  if (base.length == 0) return [[]]
  return permutations( base.slice(1) ).reduce( function(acc,perm) {
    return acc.concat( base.map( function(e,pos) {
      var new_perm = perm.slice()
      new_perm.splice(pos,0,base[0])
      return new_perm
    }))
  },[])    
}

Answer 2

Answer without the need for a exterior array or additional function

function permutator (arr) {
  var permutations = [];
  if (arr.length === 1) {
    return [ arr ];
  }

  for (var i = 0; i <  arr.length; i++) { 
    var subPerms = permutator(arr.slice(0, i).concat(arr.slice(i + 1)));
    for (var j = 0; j < subPerms.length; j++) {
      subPerms[j].unshift(arr[i]);
      permutations.push(subPerms[j]);
    }
  }
  return permutations;
}

Answer 3

perm = x => x[0] ?  x.reduce((a, n) => (perm(x.filter(m => m!=n)).forEach(y => a.push([n,...y])), a), []): [[]]

Answer 4

This is an interesting task and and here is my contribution. It's very simple and fast. If interested please bear with me and read on.

If you would like to this job fast, you definitely have to get yourself into dynamical programming. Which means you should forget about recursive approaches. That's for sure...

OK le_m's code which uses the Heap's method seems to be the fastest so far. Well i haven't got a name for my algorithm, i don't know if it's already been implemented or not but it's very simple and fast. As with all dynamical programming approaches we will start with the simplest problem and go for the final result.

Assuming that we have an array of a = [1,2,3] we will start with

r = [[1]]; // result
t = [];    // interim result

Then follow these three steps;

1. For each item of our r (result) array we will add the next item of the input array.
2. We will rotate each item it's length many times and will store each instance at the interim result array t. (well except for the first one not to waste time with 0 rotation)
3. Once we finish with all items of r the interim array t should hold the next level of results so we make r = t; t = []; and carry on up until the length of the input array a.

So the following are our steps;

r array   | push next item to |  get length many rotations
          |  each sub array   |       of each subarray
-----------------------------------------------------------
[[1]]     |     [[1,2]]       |     [[1,2],[2,1]]
----------|-------------------|----------------------------
[[1,2],   |     [[1,2,3],     |     [[1,2,3],[2,3,1],[3,1,2],
 [2,1]]   |      [2,1,3]]     |      [2,1,3],[1,3,2],[3,2,1]]
----------|-------------------|----------------------------
previous t|                   |
-----------------------------------------------------------

So here is the code

function perm(a){
  var r = [[a[0]]],
      t = [],
      s = [];
  if (a.length <= 1) return a;
  for (var i = 1, la = a.length; i < la; i++){
    for (var j = 0, lr = r.length; j < lr; j++){
      r[j].push(a[i]);
      t.push(r[j]);
      for(var k = 1, lrj = r[j].length; k < lrj; k++){
        for (var l = 0; l < lrj; l++) s[l] = r[j][(k+l)%lrj];
        t[t.length] = s;
        s = [];
      }
    }
    r = t;
    t = [];
  }
  return r;
}

var arr = [0,1,2,4,5];
console.log("The length of the permutation is:",perm(arr).length);
console.time("Permutation test");
for (var z = 0; z < 2000; z++) perm(arr);
console.timeEnd("Permutation test");

In multiple test i have seen it resolving the 120 permutations of [0,1,2,3,4] for 2000 times in 25~35ms.

Answer 5

The following very efficient algorithm uses Heap's method to generate all permutations of N elements with runtime complexity in O(N!):

function permute(permutation) {
  var length = permutation.length,
      result = [permutation.slice()],
      c = new Array(length).fill(0),
      i = 1, k, p;

  while (i < length) {
    if (c[i] < i) {
      k = i % 2 && c[i];
      p = permutation[i];
      permutation[i] = permutation[k];
      permutation[k] = p;
      ++c[i];
      i = 1;
      result.push(permutation.slice());
    } else {
      c[i] = 0;
      ++i;
    }
  }
  return result;
}

console.log(permute([1, 2, 3]));

The same algorithm implemented as a generator with space complexity in O(N):

function* permute(permutation) {
  var length = permutation.length,
      c = Array(length).fill(0),
      i = 1, k, p;

  yield permutation.slice();
  while (i < length) {
    if (c[i] < i) {
      k = i % 2 && c[i];
      p = permutation[i];
      permutation[i] = permutation[k];
      permutation[k] = p;
      ++c[i];
      i = 1;
      yield permutation.slice();
    } else {
      c[i] = 0;
      ++i;
    }
  }
}

// Memory efficient iteration through permutations:
for (var permutation of permute([1, 2, 3])) console.log(permutation);

// Simple array conversion:
var permutations = [...permute([1, 2, 3])];

Performance comparison

Feel free to add your implementation to the following benchmark.js test suite:

function permute_SiGanteng(input) {
  var permArr = [],
    usedChars = [];

  function permute(input) {
    var i, ch;
    for (i = 0; i < input.length; i++) {
      ch = input.splice(i, 1)[0];
      usedChars.push(ch);
      if (input.length == 0) {
        permArr.push(usedChars.slice());
      }
      permute(input);
      input.splice(i, 0, ch);
      usedChars.pop();
    }
    return permArr
  }
  return permute(input);
}

function permute_delimited(inputArr) {
  var results = [];

  function permute(arr, memo) {
    var cur, memo = memo || [];
    for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
      cur = arr.splice(i, 1);
      if (arr.length === 0) {
        results.push(memo.concat(cur));
      }
      permute(arr.slice(), memo.concat(cur));
      arr.splice(i, 0, cur[0]);
    }
    return results;
  }
  return permute(inputArr);
}

function permute_monkey(inputArray) {
  return inputArray.reduce(function permute(res, item, key, arr) {
    return res.concat(arr.length > 1 && arr.slice(0, key).concat(arr.slice(key + 1)).reduce(permute, []).map(function(perm) {
      return [item].concat(perm);
    }) || item);
  }, []);
}

function permute_Oriol(input) {
  var permArr = [],
    usedChars = [];
  return (function main() {
    for (var i = 0; i < input.length; i++) {
      var ch = input.splice(i, 1)[0];
      usedChars.push(ch);
      if (input.length == 0) {
        permArr.push(usedChars.slice());
      }
      main();
      input.splice(i, 0, ch);
      usedChars.pop();
    }
    return permArr;
  })();
}

function permute_MarkusT(input) {
  function permutate(array, callback) {
      function p(array, index, callback) {
          function swap(a, i1, i2) {
              var t = a[i1];
              a[i1] = a[i2];
              a[i2] = t;
          }
          if (index == array.length - 1) {
              callback(array);
              return 1;
          } else {
              var count = p(array, index + 1, callback);
              for (var i = index + 1; i < array.length; i++) {
                  swap(array, i, index);
                  count += p(array, index + 1, callback);
                  swap(array, i, index);
              }
              return count;
          }
      }
      if (!array || array.length == 0) {
          return 0;
      }
      return p(array, 0, callback);
  }
  var result = [];
  permutate(input, function(a) {
      result.push(a.slice(0));
  });
  return result;
}

function permute_le_m(permutation) {
  var length = permutation.length,
  		result = [permutation.slice()],
      c = new Array(length).fill(0),
      i = 1, k, p;
  
  while (i < length) {
    if (c[i] < i) {
      k = i % 2 && c[i],
      p = permutation[i];
      permutation[i] = permutation[k];
      permutation[k] = p;
      ++c[i];
      i = 1;
      result.push(permutation.slice());
    } else {
      c[i] = 0;
      ++i;
    }
  }
  return result;
}

function permute_Urielzen(arr) {
    var finalArr = [];
    var iterator = function (arrayTaken, tree) {
        for (var i = 0; i < tree; i++) {
            var temp = arrayTaken.slice();
            temp.splice(tree - 1 - i, 0, temp.splice(tree - 1, 1)[0]);
            if (tree >= arr.length) {
                finalArr.push(temp);
            } else { iterator(temp, tree + 1); }
        }
    }
    iterator(arr, 1); return finalArr;
}

function permute_Taylor_Hakes(arr) {
  var permutations = [];
  if (arr.length === 1) {
    return [ arr ];
  }

  for (var i = 0; i <  arr.length; i++) { 
    var subPerms = permute_Taylor_Hakes(arr.slice(0, i).concat(arr.slice(i + 1)));
    for (var j = 0; j < subPerms.length; j++) {
      subPerms[j].unshift(arr[i]);
      permutations.push(subPerms[j]);
    }
  }
  return permutations;
}

var Combinatorics = (function () {
    'use strict';
    var version = "0.5.2";
    /* combinatory arithmetics */
    var P = function(m, n) {
        var p = 1;
        while (n--) p *= m--;
        return p;
    };
    var C = function(m, n) {
        if (n > m) {
            return 0;
        }
        return P(m, n) / P(n, n);
    };
    var factorial = function(n) {
        return P(n, n);
    };
    var factoradic = function(n, d) {
        var f = 1;
        if (!d) {
            for (d = 1; f < n; f *= ++d);
            if (f > n) f /= d--;
        } else {
            f = factorial(d);
        }
        var result = [0];
        for (; d; f /= d--) {
            result[d] = Math.floor(n / f);
            n %= f;
        }
        return result;
    };
    /* common methods */
    var addProperties = function(dst, src) {
        Object.keys(src).forEach(function(p) {
            Object.defineProperty(dst, p, {
                value: src[p],
                configurable: p == 'next'
            });
        });
    };
    var hideProperty = function(o, p) {
        Object.defineProperty(o, p, {
            writable: true
        });
    };
    var toArray = function(f) {
        var e, result = [];
        this.init();
        while (e = this.next()) result.push(f ? f(e) : e);
        this.init();
        return result;
    };
    var common = {
        toArray: toArray,
        map: toArray,
        forEach: function(f) {
            var e;
            this.init();
            while (e = this.next()) f(e);
            this.init();
        },
        filter: function(f) {
            var e, result = [];
            this.init();
            while (e = this.next()) if (f(e)) result.push(e);
            this.init();
            return result;
        },
        lazyMap: function(f) {
            this._lazyMap = f;
            return this;
        },
        lazyFilter: function(f) {
            Object.defineProperty(this, 'next', {
                writable: true
            });
            if (typeof f !== 'function') {
                this.next = this._next;
            } else {
                if (typeof (this._next) !== 'function') {
                    this._next = this.next;
                }
                var _next = this._next.bind(this);
                this.next = (function() {
                    var e;
                    while (e = _next()) {
                        if (f(e))
                            return e;
                    }
                    return e;
                }).bind(this);
            }
            Object.defineProperty(this, 'next', {
                writable: false
            });
            return this;
        }

    };
    /* power set */
    var power = function(ary, fun) {
        var size = 1 << ary.length,
            sizeOf = function() {
                return size;
            },
            that = Object.create(ary.slice(), {
                length: {
                    get: sizeOf
                }
            });
        hideProperty(that, 'index');
        addProperties(that, {
            valueOf: sizeOf,
            init: function() {
                that.index = 0;
            },
            nth: function(n) {
                if (n >= size) return;
                var i = 0,
                    result = [];
                for (; n; n >>>= 1, i++) if (n & 1) result.push(this[i]);
                return (typeof (that._lazyMap) === 'function')?that._lazyMap(result):result;
            },
            next: function() {
                return this.nth(this.index++);
            }
        });
        addProperties(that, common);
        that.init();
        return (typeof (fun) === 'function') ? that.map(fun) : that;
    };
    /* combination */
    var nextIndex = function(n) {
        var smallest = n & -n,
            ripple = n + smallest,
            new_smallest = ripple & -ripple,
            ones = ((new_smallest / smallest) >> 1) - 1;
        return ripple | ones;
    };
    var combination = function(ary, nelem, fun) {
        if (!nelem) nelem = ary.length;
        if (nelem < 1) throw new RangeError;
        if (nelem > ary.length) throw new RangeError;
        var first = (1 << nelem) - 1,
            size = C(ary.length, nelem),
            maxIndex = 1 << ary.length,
            sizeOf = function() {
                return size;
            },
            that = Object.create(ary.slice(), {
                length: {
                    get: sizeOf
                }
            });
        hideProperty(that, 'index');
        addProperties(that, {
            valueOf: sizeOf,
            init: function() {
                this.index = first;
            },
            next: function() {
                if (this.index >= maxIndex) return;
                var i = 0,
                    n = this.index,
                    result = [];
                for (; n; n >>>= 1, i++) {
                    if (n & 1) result[result.length] = this[i];
                }

                this.index = nextIndex(this.index);
                return (typeof (that._lazyMap) === 'function')?that._lazyMap(result):result;
            }
        });
        addProperties(that, common);
        that.init();
        return (typeof (fun) === 'function') ? that.map(fun) : that;
    };
    /* permutation */
    var _permutation = function(ary) {
        var that = ary.slice(),
            size = factorial(that.length);
        that.index = 0;
        that.next = function() {
            if (this.index >= size) return;
            var copy = this.slice(),
                digits = factoradic(this.index, this.length),
                result = [],
                i = this.length - 1;
            for (; i >= 0; --i) result.push(copy.splice(digits[i], 1)[0]);
            this.index++;
            return (typeof (that._lazyMap) === 'function')?that._lazyMap(result):result;
        };
        return that;
    };
    // which is really a permutation of combination
    var permutation = function(ary, nelem, fun) {
        if (!nelem) nelem = ary.length;
        if (nelem < 1) throw new RangeError;
        if (nelem > ary.length) throw new RangeError;
        var size = P(ary.length, nelem),
            sizeOf = function() {
                return size;
            },
            that = Object.create(ary.slice(), {
                length: {
                    get: sizeOf
                }
            });
        hideProperty(that, 'cmb');
        hideProperty(that, 'per');
        addProperties(that, {
            valueOf: function() {
                return size;
            },
            init: function() {
                this.cmb = combination(ary, nelem);
                this.per = _permutation(this.cmb.next());
            },
            next: function() {
                var result = this.per.next();
                if (!result) {
                    var cmb = this.cmb.next();
                    if (!cmb) return;
                    this.per = _permutation(cmb);
                    return this.next();
                }
                return (typeof (that._lazyMap) === 'function')?that._lazyMap(result):result;
            }
        });
        addProperties(that, common);
        that.init();
        return (typeof (fun) === 'function') ? that.map(fun) : that;
    };

    /* export */
    var Combinatorics = Object.create(null);
    addProperties(Combinatorics, {
        C: C,
        P: P,
        factorial: factorial,
        factoradic: factoradic,
        permutation: permutation,
    });
    return Combinatorics;
})();

var suite = new Benchmark.Suite;
var input = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4];

suite.add('permute_SiGanteng', function() {
    permute_SiGanteng(input);
  })
  .add('permute_delimited', function() {
    permute_delimited(input);
  })
  .add('permute_monkey', function() {
    permute_monkey(input);
  })
  .add('permute_Oriol', function() {
    permute_Oriol(input);
  })
  .add('permute_MarkusT', function() {
    permute_MarkusT(input);
  })
  .add('permute_le_m', function() {
    permute_le_m(input);
  })
  .add('permute_Urielzen', function() {
    permute_Urielzen(input);
  })
  .add('permute_Taylor_Hakes', function() {
    permute_Taylor_Hakes(input);
  })
  .add('permute_Combinatorics', function() {
    Combinatorics.permutation(input).toArray();
  })
  .on('cycle', function(event) {
    console.log(String(event.target));
  })
  .on('complete', function() {
    console.log('Fastest is ' + this.filter('fastest').map('name'));
  })
  .run({async: true});

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/lodash.js/4.17.4/lodash.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/platform/1.3.4/platform.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/benchmark/2.1.4/benchmark.min.js"></script>

Run-time results for Chrome 48:

•   99.152ms This algorithm
•  153.115ms MarkusT
•  401.255ms js-combinatorics
•  497.037ms Urielzen
•  925.669ms Oriol
• 1026.571ms SiGanteng
• 2529.841ms delimited
• 3992.622ms monkey
• 4514.665ms Oriol

Answer 6

This is a very nice use-case for map/reduce:

function permutations(arr) {
    return (arr.length === 1) ? arr :
    arr.reduce((acc, cv, index) => {
        let remaining = [...arr];
        remaining.splice(index, 1);
        return acc.concat(permutations(remaining).map(a => [].concat(cv,a)));
    }, []);
}

• First, we handle the base case and simply return the array if there is only on item in it
• In all other cases
  • we create an empty array
  • loop over the input-array
  • and add an array of the current value and all permutations of the remaining array [].concat(cv,a)