Algorithm to find all possible permutations of a string or array
How can I implement a generic algorithm which generates all possible permutations of a string or array elements ?
Anonymous Answered question
Below Javascript code does that in a nutshell:-
window.onload = init; // patch init function to window onload event
/* init function to be called on window load */
function init() {
console.log(permuteString('', 'abcd'));
console.log(permuteArray('', ['William', 'Henry', 'Gates', 'Junior']));
}
/* finds permutations of all characters of a string */
function permuteString(prefix, string) {
var n = string.length;
if (n === 0) {
console.log(prefix);
} else {
for (var index = 0; index < n; index++) {
permuteString(prefix.concat(string[index]), string.slice(0, index).concat(string.slice(index + 1, n)));
}
}
return "Complete";
}
/* same function slightly modified for an array with an extra space delimiter */
function permuteArray(prefix, string) {
var n = string.length;
if (n === 0) {
console.log(prefix);
} else {
for (var index = 0; index < n; index++) {
// Note:- space has been concatenated to distinguish/delimit between different array elements
permuteArray(prefix.concat(string[index])+' ', string.slice(0, index).concat(string.slice(index + 1, n)));
}
}
return "Complete";
}
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