how to find all permutations in an array [duplicate]

What is the best way to find all combinations of items in an array in c#?

Solution 1:

UPDATED

Here are a set of generic functions (require .net 3.5 or higher) for different scenarios. The outputs are for a list of {1, 2, 3, 4} and a length of 2.

Permutations with repetition

static IEnumerable<IEnumerable<T>> 
    GetPermutationsWithRept<T>(IEnumerable<T> list, int length)
{
    if (length == 1) return list.Select(t => new T[] { t });
    return GetPermutationsWithRept(list, length - 1)
        .SelectMany(t => list, 
            (t1, t2) => t1.Concat(new T[] { t2 }));
}

Output:

{1,1} {1,2} {1,3} {1,4} {2,1} {2,2} {2,3} {2,4} {3,1} {3,2} {3,3} {3,4} {4,1} {4,2} {4,3} {4,4}

Permutations

static IEnumerable<IEnumerable<T>>
    GetPermutations<T>(IEnumerable<T> list, int length)
{
    if (length == 1) return list.Select(t => new T[] { t });
    return GetPermutations(list, length - 1)
        .SelectMany(t => list.Where(o => !t.Contains(o)),
            (t1, t2) => t1.Concat(new T[] { t2 }));
}

Output:

{1,2} {1,3} {1,4} {2,1} {2,3} {2,4} {3,1} {3,2} {3,4} {4,1} {4,2} {4,3}

K-combinations with repetition

static IEnumerable<IEnumerable<T>> 
    GetKCombsWithRept<T>(IEnumerable<T> list, int length) where T : IComparable
{
    if (length == 1) return list.Select(t => new T[] { t });
    return GetKCombsWithRept(list, length - 1)
        .SelectMany(t => list.Where(o => o.CompareTo(t.Last()) >= 0), 
            (t1, t2) => t1.Concat(new T[] { t2 }));
}

Output:

{1,1} {1,2} {1,3} {1,4} {2,2} {2,3} {2,4} {3,3} {3,4} {4,4}

K-combinations

static IEnumerable<IEnumerable<T>> 
    GetKCombs<T>(IEnumerable<T> list, int length) where T : IComparable
{
    if (length == 1) return list.Select(t => new T[] { t });
    return GetKCombs(list, length - 1)
        .SelectMany(t => list.Where(o => o.CompareTo(t.Last()) > 0), 
            (t1, t2) => t1.Concat(new T[] { t2 }));
}

Output:

{1,2} {1,3} {1,4} {2,3} {2,4} {3,4}

Solution 2:

That's called permutations.

This can give you the permutations of any collection:

public class Permutation {

  public static IEnumerable<T[]> GetPermutations<T>(T[] items) {
    int[] work = new int[items.Length];
    for (int i = 0; i < work.Length; i++) {
      work[i] = i;
    }
    foreach (int[] index in GetIntPermutations(work, 0, work.Length)) {
      T[] result = new T[index.Length];
      for (int i = 0; i < index.Length; i++) result[i] = items[index[i]];
      yield return result;
    }
  }

  public static IEnumerable<int[]> GetIntPermutations(int[] index, int offset, int len) {
    if (len == 1) {
      yield return index;
    } else if (len == 2) {
      yield return index;
      Swap(index, offset, offset + 1);
      yield return index;
      Swap(index, offset, offset + 1);
    } else {
      foreach (int[] result in GetIntPermutations(index, offset + 1, len - 1)) {
        yield return result;
      }
      for (int i = 1; i < len; i++) {
        Swap(index, offset, offset + i);
        foreach (int[] result in GetIntPermutations(index, offset + 1, len - 1)) {
          yield return result;
        }
        Swap(index, offset, offset + i);
      }
    }
  }

  private static void Swap(int[] index, int offset1, int offset2) {
    int temp = index[offset1];
    index[offset1] = index[offset2];
    index[offset2] = temp;
  }

}

Example:

string[] items = { "one", "two", "three" };
foreach (string[] permutation in Permutation.GetPermutations<string>(items)) {
  Console.WriteLine(String.Join(", ", permutation));
}