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Efficient/Fast way to get permutation of a String in java [duplicate]

What is an elegant way to find all the permutations of a string. E.g. permutation for ba, would be ba and ab, but what about longer string such as abcdefgh? Is there any Java implementation example?

public static void permutation(String str) {
permutation("", str);
}
private static void permutation(String prefix, String str) {
int n = str.length();
if (n == 0) System.out.println(prefix);
else {
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
permutation(prefix + str.charAt(i), str.substring(0, i) + str.substring(i+1, n));
}
}
(via Introduction to Programming in Java)

Use recursion.
Try each of the letters in turn as the first letter and then find all the permutations of the remaining letters using a recursive call.
The base case is when the input is an empty string the only permutation is the empty string.

Here is my solution that is based on the idea of the book "Cracking the Coding Interview" (P54):
/**
* List permutations of a string.
*
* #param s the input string
* #return the list of permutations
*/
public static ArrayList<String> permutation(String s) {
// The result
ArrayList<String> res = new ArrayList<String>();
// If input string's length is 1, return {s}
if (s.length() == 1) {
res.add(s);
} else if (s.length() > 1) {
int lastIndex = s.length() - 1;
// Find out the last character
String last = s.substring(lastIndex);
// Rest of the string
String rest = s.substring(0, lastIndex);
// Perform permutation on the rest string and
// merge with the last character
res = merge(permutation(rest), last);
}
return res;
}
/**
* #param list a result of permutation, e.g. {"ab", "ba"}
* #param c the last character
* #return a merged new list, e.g. {"cab", "acb" ... }
*/
public static ArrayList<String> merge(ArrayList<String> list, String c) {
ArrayList<String> res = new ArrayList<>();
// Loop through all the string in the list
for (String s : list) {
// For each string, insert the last character to all possible positions
// and add them to the new list
for (int i = 0; i <= s.length(); ++i) {
String ps = new StringBuffer(s).insert(i, c).toString();
res.add(ps);
}
}
return res;
}
Running output of string "abcd":
Step 1: Merge [a] and b:
[ba, ab]
Step 2: Merge [ba, ab] and c:
[cba, bca, bac, cab, acb, abc]
Step 3: Merge [cba, bca, bac, cab, acb, abc] and d:
[dcba, cdba, cbda, cbad, dbca, bdca, bcda, bcad, dbac, bdac, badc, bacd, dcab, cdab, cadb, cabd, dacb, adcb, acdb, acbd, dabc, adbc, abdc, abcd]

Of all the solutions given here and in other forums, I liked Mark Byers the most. That description actually made me think and code it myself.
Too bad I cannot voteup his solution as I am newbie.
Anyways here is my implementation of his description
public class PermTest {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
String str = "abcdef";
StringBuffer strBuf = new StringBuffer(str);
doPerm(strBuf,0);
}
private static void doPerm(StringBuffer str, int index){
if(index == str.length())
System.out.println(str);
else { //recursively solve this by placing all other chars at current first pos
doPerm(str, index+1);
for (int i = index+1; i < str.length(); i++) {//start swapping all other chars with current first char
swap(str,index, i);
doPerm(str, index+1);
swap(str,i, index);//restore back my string buffer
}
}
}
private static void swap(StringBuffer str, int pos1, int pos2){
char t1 = str.charAt(pos1);
str.setCharAt(pos1, str.charAt(pos2));
str.setCharAt(pos2, t1);
}
}
I prefer this solution ahead of the first one in this thread because this solution uses StringBuffer. I wouldn't say my solution doesn't create any temporary string (it actually does in system.out.println where the toString() of StringBuffer is called). But I just feel this is better than the first solution where too many string literals are created. May be some performance guy out there can evalute this in terms of 'memory' (for 'time' it already lags due to that extra 'swap')

A very basic solution in Java is to use recursion + Set ( to avoid repetitions ) if you want to store and return the solution strings :
public static Set<String> generatePerm(String input)
{
Set<String> set = new HashSet<String>();
if (input == "")
return set;
Character a = input.charAt(0);
if (input.length() > 1)
{
input = input.substring(1);
Set<String> permSet = generatePerm(input);
for (String x : permSet)
{
for (int i = 0; i <= x.length(); i++)
{
set.add(x.substring(0, i) + a + x.substring(i));
}
}
}
else
{
set.add(a + "");
}
return set;
}

All the previous contributors have done a great job explaining and providing the code. I thought I should share this approach too because it might help someone too. The solution is based on (heaps' algorithm )
Couple of things:
Notice the last item which is depicted in the excel is just for helping you better visualize the logic. So, the actual values in the last column would be 2,1,0 (if we were to run the code because we are dealing with arrays and arrays start with 0).
The swapping algorithm happens based on even or odd values of current position. It's very self explanatory if you look at where the swap method is getting called.You can see what's going on.
Here is what happens:
public static void main(String[] args) {
String ourword = "abc";
String[] ourArray = ourword.split("");
permute(ourArray, ourArray.length);
}
private static void swap(String[] ourarray, int right, int left) {
String temp = ourarray[right];
ourarray[right] = ourarray[left];
ourarray[left] = temp;
}
public static void permute(String[] ourArray, int currentPosition) {
if (currentPosition == 1) {
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(ourArray));
} else {
for (int i = 0; i < currentPosition; i++) {
// subtract one from the last position (here is where you are
// selecting the the next last item
permute(ourArray, currentPosition - 1);
// if it's odd position
if (currentPosition % 2 == 1) {
swap(ourArray, 0, currentPosition - 1);
} else {
swap(ourArray, i, currentPosition - 1);
}
}
}
}

Let's use input abc as an example.
Start off with just the last element (c) in a set (["c"]), then add the second last element (b) to its front, end and every possible positions in the middle, making it ["bc", "cb"] and then in the same manner it will add the next element from the back (a) to each string in the set making it:
"a" + "bc" = ["abc", "bac", "bca"] and "a" + "cb" = ["acb" ,"cab", "cba"]
Thus entire permutation:
["abc", "bac", "bca","acb" ,"cab", "cba"]
Code:
public class Test
{
static Set<String> permutations;
static Set<String> result = new HashSet<String>();
public static Set<String> permutation(String string) {
permutations = new HashSet<String>();
int n = string.length();
for (int i = n - 1; i >= 0; i--)
{
shuffle(string.charAt(i));
}
return permutations;
}
private static void shuffle(char c) {
if (permutations.size() == 0) {
permutations.add(String.valueOf(c));
} else {
Iterator<String> it = permutations.iterator();
for (int i = 0; i < permutations.size(); i++) {
String temp1;
for (; it.hasNext();) {
temp1 = it.next();
for (int k = 0; k < temp1.length() + 1; k += 1) {
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(temp1);
sb.insert(k, c);
result.add(sb.toString());
}
}
}
permutations = result;
//'result' has to be refreshed so that in next run it doesn't contain stale values.
result = new HashSet<String>();
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Set<String> result = permutation("abc");
System.out.println("\nThere are total of " + result.size() + " permutations:");
Iterator<String> it = result.iterator();
while (it.hasNext()) {
System.out.println(it.next());
}
}
}

This one is without recursion
public static void permute(String s) {
if(null==s || s.isEmpty()) {
return;
}
// List containing words formed in each iteration
List<String> strings = new LinkedList<String>();
strings.add(String.valueOf(s.charAt(0))); // add the first element to the list
// Temp list that holds the set of strings for
// appending the current character to all position in each word in the original list
List<String> tempList = new LinkedList<String>();
for(int i=1; i< s.length(); i++) {
for(int j=0; j<strings.size(); j++) {
tempList.addAll(merge(s.charAt(i), strings.get(j)));
}
strings.removeAll(strings);
strings.addAll(tempList);
tempList.removeAll(tempList);
}
for(int i=0; i<strings.size(); i++) {
System.out.println(strings.get(i));
}
}
/**
* helper method that appends the given character at each position in the given string
* and returns a set of such modified strings
* - set removes duplicates if any(in case a character is repeated)
*/
private static Set<String> merge(Character c, String s) {
if(s==null || s.isEmpty()) {
return null;
}
int len = s.length();
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
Set<String> list = new HashSet<String>();
for(int i=0; i<= len; i++) {
sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.append(s.substring(0, i) + c + s.substring(i, len));
list.add(sb.toString());
}
return list;
}

Well here is an elegant, non-recursive, O(n!) solution:
public static StringBuilder[] permutations(String s) {
if (s.length() == 0)
return null;
int length = fact(s.length());
StringBuilder[] sb = new StringBuilder[length];
for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) {
sb[i] = new StringBuilder();
}
for (int i = 0; i < s.length(); i++) {
char ch = s.charAt(i);
int times = length / (i + 1);
for (int j = 0; j < times; j++) {
for (int k = 0; k < length / times; k++) {
sb[j * length / times + k].insert(k, ch);
}
}
}
return sb;
}

One of the simple solution could be just keep swapping the characters recursively using two pointers.
public static void main(String[] args)
{
String str="abcdefgh";
perm(str);
}
public static void perm(String str)
{ char[] char_arr=str.toCharArray();
helper(char_arr,0);
}
public static void helper(char[] char_arr, int i)
{
if(i==char_arr.length-1)
{
// print the shuffled string
String str="";
for(int j=0; j<char_arr.length; j++)
{
str=str+char_arr[j];
}
System.out.println(str);
}
else
{
for(int j=i; j<char_arr.length; j++)
{
char tmp = char_arr[i];
char_arr[i] = char_arr[j];
char_arr[j] = tmp;
helper(char_arr,i+1);
char tmp1 = char_arr[i];
char_arr[i] = char_arr[j];
char_arr[j] = tmp1;
}
}
}

python implementation
def getPermutation(s, prefix=''):
if len(s) == 0:
print prefix
for i in range(len(s)):
getPermutation(s[0:i]+s[i+1:len(s)],prefix+s[i] )
getPermutation('abcd','')

This is what I did through basic understanding of Permutations and Recursive function calling. Takes a bit of time but it's done independently.
public class LexicographicPermutations {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
String s="abc";
List<String>combinations=new ArrayList<String>();
combinations=permutations(s);
Collections.sort(combinations);
System.out.println(combinations);
}
private static List<String> permutations(String s) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
List<String>combinations=new ArrayList<String>();
if(s.length()==1){
combinations.add(s);
}
else{
for(int i=0;i<s.length();i++){
List<String>temp=permutations(s.substring(0, i)+s.substring(i+1));
for (String string : temp) {
combinations.add(s.charAt(i)+string);
}
}
}
return combinations;
}}
which generates Output as [abc, acb, bac, bca, cab, cba].
Basic logic behind it is
For each character, consider it as 1st character & find the combinations of remaining characters. e.g. [abc](Combination of abc)->.
a->[bc](a x Combination of (bc))->{abc,acb}
b->[ac](b x Combination of (ac))->{bac,bca}
c->[ab](c x Combination of (ab))->{cab,cba}
And then recursively calling each [bc],[ac] & [ab] independently.

Use recursion.
when the input is an empty string the only permutation is an empty string.Try for each of the letters in the string by making it as the first letter and then find all the permutations of the remaining letters using a recursive call.
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
class Permutation {
private static List<String> permutation(String prefix, String str) {
List<String> permutations = new ArrayList<>();
int n = str.length();
if (n == 0) {
permutations.add(prefix);
} else {
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
permutations.addAll(permutation(prefix + str.charAt(i), str.substring(i + 1, n) + str.substring(0, i)));
}
}
return permutations;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
List<String> perms = permutation("", "abcd");
String[] array = new String[perms.size()];
for (int i = 0; i < perms.size(); i++) {
array[i] = perms.get(i);
}
int x = array.length;
for (final String anArray : array) {
System.out.println(anArray);
}
}
}

this worked for me..
import java.util.Arrays;
public class StringPermutations{
public static void main(String args[]) {
String inputString = "ABC";
permute(inputString.toCharArray(), 0, inputString.length()-1);
}
public static void permute(char[] ary, int startIndex, int endIndex) {
if(startIndex == endIndex){
System.out.println(String.valueOf(ary));
}else{
for(int i=startIndex;i<=endIndex;i++) {
swap(ary, startIndex, i );
permute(ary, startIndex+1, endIndex);
swap(ary, startIndex, i );
}
}
}
public static void swap(char[] ary, int x, int y) {
char temp = ary[x];
ary[x] = ary[y];
ary[y] = temp;
}
}

Java implementation without recursion
public Set<String> permutate(String s){
Queue<String> permutations = new LinkedList<String>();
Set<String> v = new HashSet<String>();
permutations.add(s);
while(permutations.size()!=0){
String str = permutations.poll();
if(!v.contains(str)){
v.add(str);
for(int i = 0;i<str.length();i++){
String c = String.valueOf(str.charAt(i));
permutations.add(str.substring(i+1) + c + str.substring(0,i));
}
}
}
return v;
}

Let me try to tackle this problem with Kotlin:
fun <T> List<T>.permutations(): List<List<T>> {
//escape case
if (this.isEmpty()) return emptyList()
if (this.size == 1) return listOf(this)
if (this.size == 2) return listOf(listOf(this.first(), this.last()), listOf(this.last(), this.first()))
//recursive case
return this.flatMap { lastItem ->
this.minus(lastItem).permutations().map { it.plus(lastItem) }
}
}
Core concept: Break down long list into smaller list + recursion
Long answer with example list [1, 2, 3, 4]:
Even for a list of 4 it already kinda get's confusing trying to list all the possible permutations in your head, and what we need to do is exactly to avoid that. It is easy for us to understand how to make all permutations of list of size 0, 1, and 2, so all we need to do is break them down to any of those sizes and combine them back up correctly. Imagine a jackpot machine: this algorithm will start spinning from the right to the left, and write down
return empty/list of 1 when list size is 0 or 1
handle when list size is 2 (e.g. [3, 4]), and generate the 2 permutations ([3, 4] & [4, 3])
For each item, mark that as the last in the last, and find all the permutations for the rest of the item in the list. (e.g. put [4] on the table, and throw [1, 2, 3] into permutation again)
Now with all permutation it's children, put itself back to the end of the list (e.g.: [1, 2, 3][,4], [1, 3, 2][,4], [2, 3, 1][, 4], ...)

import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Scanner;
public class hello {
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
hello h = new hello();
h.printcomp();
}
int fact=1;
public void factrec(int a,int k){
if(a>=k)
{fact=fact*k;
k++;
factrec(a,k);
}
else
{System.out.println("The string will have "+fact+" permutations");
}
}
public void printcomp(){
String str;
int k;
Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.println("enter the string whose permutations has to b found");
str=in.next();
k=str.length();
factrec(k,1);
String[] arr =new String[fact];
char[] array = str.toCharArray();
while(p<fact)
printcomprec(k,array,arr);
// if incase u need array containing all the permutation use this
//for(int d=0;d<fact;d++)
//System.out.println(arr[d]);
}
int y=1;
int p = 0;
int g=1;
int z = 0;
public void printcomprec(int k,char array[],String arr[]){
for (int l = 0; l < k; l++) {
for (int b=0;b<k-1;b++){
for (int i=1; i<k-g; i++) {
char temp;
String stri = "";
temp = array[i];
array[i] = array[i + g];
array[i + g] = temp;
for (int j = 0; j < k; j++)
stri += array[j];
arr[z] = stri;
System.out.println(arr[z] + " " + p++);
z++;
}
}
char temp;
temp=array[0];
array[0]=array[y];
array[y]=temp;
if (y >= k-1)
y=y-(k-1);
else
y++;
}
if (g >= k-1)
g=1;
else
g++;
}
}

/** Returns an array list containing all
* permutations of the characters in s. */
public static ArrayList<String> permute(String s) {
ArrayList<String> perms = new ArrayList<>();
int slen = s.length();
if (slen > 0) {
// Add the first character from s to the perms array list.
perms.add(Character.toString(s.charAt(0)));
// Repeat for all additional characters in s.
for (int i = 1; i < slen; ++i) {
// Get the next character from s.
char c = s.charAt(i);
// For each of the strings currently in perms do the following:
int size = perms.size();
for (int j = 0; j < size; ++j) {
// 1. remove the string
String p = perms.remove(0);
int plen = p.length();
// 2. Add plen + 1 new strings to perms. Each new string
// consists of the removed string with the character c
// inserted into it at a unique location.
for (int k = 0; k <= plen; ++k) {
perms.add(p.substring(0, k) + c + p.substring(k));
}
}
}
}
return perms;
}

Here is a straightforward minimalist recursive solution in Java:
public static ArrayList<String> permutations(String s) {
ArrayList<String> out = new ArrayList<String>();
if (s.length() == 1) {
out.add(s);
return out;
}
char first = s.charAt(0);
String rest = s.substring(1);
for (String permutation : permutations(rest)) {
out.addAll(insertAtAllPositions(first, permutation));
}
return out;
}
public static ArrayList<String> insertAtAllPositions(char ch, String s) {
ArrayList<String> out = new ArrayList<String>();
for (int i = 0; i <= s.length(); ++i) {
String inserted = s.substring(0, i) + ch + s.substring(i);
out.add(inserted);
}
return out;
}

We can use factorial to find how many strings started with particular letter.
Example: take the input abcd. (3!) == 6 strings will start with every letter of abcd.
static public int facts(int x){
int sum = 1;
for (int i = 1; i < x; i++) {
sum *= (i+1);
}
return sum;
}
public static void permutation(String str) {
char[] str2 = str.toCharArray();
int n = str2.length;
int permutation = 0;
if (n == 1) {
System.out.println(str2[0]);
} else if (n == 2) {
System.out.println(str2[0] + "" + str2[1]);
System.out.println(str2[1] + "" + str2[0]);
} else {
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
if (true) {
char[] str3 = str.toCharArray();
char temp = str3[i];
str3[i] = str3[0];
str3[0] = temp;
str2 = str3;
}
for (int j = 1, count = 0; count < facts(n-1); j++, count++) {
if (j != n-1) {
char temp1 = str2[j+1];
str2[j+1] = str2[j];
str2[j] = temp1;
} else {
char temp1 = str2[n-1];
str2[n-1] = str2[1];
str2[1] = temp1;
j = 1;
} // end of else block
permutation++;
System.out.print("permutation " + permutation + " is -> ");
for (int k = 0; k < n; k++) {
System.out.print(str2[k]);
} // end of loop k
System.out.println();
} // end of loop j
} // end of loop i
}
}

//insert each character into an arraylist
static ArrayList al = new ArrayList();
private static void findPermutation (String str){
for (int k = 0; k < str.length(); k++) {
addOneChar(str.charAt(k));
}
}
//insert one char into ArrayList
private static void addOneChar(char ch){
String lastPerStr;
String tempStr;
ArrayList locAl = new ArrayList();
for (int i = 0; i < al.size(); i ++ ){
lastPerStr = al.get(i).toString();
//System.out.println("lastPerStr: " + lastPerStr);
for (int j = 0; j <= lastPerStr.length(); j++) {
tempStr = lastPerStr.substring(0,j) + ch +
lastPerStr.substring(j, lastPerStr.length());
locAl.add(tempStr);
//System.out.println("tempStr: " + tempStr);
}
}
if(al.isEmpty()){
al.add(ch);
} else {
al.clear();
al = locAl;
}
}
private static void printArrayList(ArrayList al){
for (int i = 0; i < al.size(); i++) {
System.out.print(al.get(i) + " ");
}
}

//Rotate and create words beginning with all letter possible and push to stack 1
//Read from stack1 and for each word create words with other letters at the next location by rotation and so on
/* eg : man
1. push1 - man, anm, nma
2. pop1 - nma , push2 - nam,nma
pop1 - anm , push2 - amn,anm
pop1 - man , push2 - mna,man
*/
public class StringPermute {
static String str;
static String word;
static int top1 = -1;
static int top2 = -1;
static String[] stringArray1;
static String[] stringArray2;
static int strlength = 0;
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
System.out.println("Enter String : ");
InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(System.in);
BufferedReader bfr = new BufferedReader(isr);
str = bfr.readLine();
word = str;
strlength = str.length();
int n = 1;
for (int i = 1; i <= strlength; i++) {
n = n * i;
}
stringArray1 = new String[n];
stringArray2 = new String[n];
push(word, 1);
doPermute();
display();
}
public static void push(String word, int x) {
if (x == 1)
stringArray1[++top1] = word;
else
stringArray2[++top2] = word;
}
public static String pop(int x) {
if (x == 1)
return stringArray1[top1--];
else
return stringArray2[top2--];
}
public static void doPermute() {
for (int j = strlength; j >= 2; j--)
popper(j);
}
public static void popper(int length) {
// pop from stack1 , rotate each word n times and push to stack 2
if (top1 > -1) {
while (top1 > -1) {
word = pop(1);
for (int j = 0; j < length; j++) {
rotate(length);
push(word, 2);
}
}
}
// pop from stack2 , rotate each word n times w.r.t position and push to
// stack 1
else {
while (top2 > -1) {
word = pop(2);
for (int j = 0; j < length; j++) {
rotate(length);
push(word, 1);
}
}
}
}
public static void rotate(int position) {
char[] charstring = new char[100];
for (int j = 0; j < word.length(); j++)
charstring[j] = word.charAt(j);
int startpos = strlength - position;
char temp = charstring[startpos];
for (int i = startpos; i < strlength - 1; i++) {
charstring[i] = charstring[i + 1];
}
charstring[strlength - 1] = temp;
word = new String(charstring).trim();
}
public static void display() {
int top;
if (top1 > -1) {
while (top1 > -1)
System.out.println(stringArray1[top1--]);
} else {
while (top2 > -1)
System.out.println(stringArray2[top2--]);
}
}
}

Another simple way is to loop through the string, pick the character that is not used yet and put it to a buffer, continue the loop till the buffer size equals to the string length. I like this back tracking solution better because:
Easy to understand
Easy to avoid duplication
The output is sorted
Here is the java code:
List<String> permute(String str) {
if (str == null) {
return null;
}
char[] chars = str.toCharArray();
boolean[] used = new boolean[chars.length];
List<String> res = new ArrayList<String>();
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
Arrays.sort(chars);
helper(chars, used, sb, res);
return res;
}
void helper(char[] chars, boolean[] used, StringBuilder sb, List<String> res) {
if (sb.length() == chars.length) {
res.add(sb.toString());
return;
}
for (int i = 0; i < chars.length; i++) {
// avoid duplicates
if (i > 0 && chars[i] == chars[i - 1] && !used[i - 1]) {
continue;
}
// pick the character that has not used yet
if (!used[i]) {
used[i] = true;
sb.append(chars[i]);
helper(chars, used, sb, res);
// back tracking
sb.deleteCharAt(sb.length() - 1);
used[i] = false;
}
}
}
Input str: 1231
Output list: {1123, 1132, 1213, 1231, 1312, 1321, 2113, 2131, 2311, 3112, 3121, 3211}
Noticed that the output is sorted, and there is no duplicate result.

Recursion is not necessary, even you can calculate any permutation directly, this solution uses generics to permute any array.
Here is a good information about this algorihtm.
For C# developers here is more useful implementation.
public static void main(String[] args) {
String word = "12345";
Character[] array = ArrayUtils.toObject(word.toCharArray());
long[] factorials = Permutation.getFactorials(array.length + 1);
for (long i = 0; i < factorials[array.length]; i++) {
Character[] permutation = Permutation.<Character>getPermutation(i, array, factorials);
printPermutation(permutation);
}
}
private static void printPermutation(Character[] permutation) {
for (int i = 0; i < permutation.length; i++) {
System.out.print(permutation[i]);
}
System.out.println();
}
This algorithm has O(N) time and space complexity to calculate each permutation.
public class Permutation {
public static <T> T[] getPermutation(long permutationNumber, T[] array, long[] factorials) {
int[] sequence = generateSequence(permutationNumber, array.length - 1, factorials);
T[] permutation = generatePermutation(array, sequence);
return permutation;
}
public static <T> T[] generatePermutation(T[] array, int[] sequence) {
T[] clone = array.clone();
for (int i = 0; i < clone.length - 1; i++) {
swap(clone, i, i + sequence[i]);
}
return clone;
}
private static int[] generateSequence(long permutationNumber, int size, long[] factorials) {
int[] sequence = new int[size];
for (int j = 0; j < sequence.length; j++) {
long factorial = factorials[sequence.length - j];
sequence[j] = (int) (permutationNumber / factorial);
permutationNumber = (int) (permutationNumber % factorial);
}
return sequence;
}
private static <T> void swap(T[] array, int i, int j) {
T t = array[i];
array[i] = array[j];
array[j] = t;
}
public static long[] getFactorials(int length) {
long[] factorials = new long[length];
long factor = 1;
for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) {
factor *= i <= 1 ? 1 : i;
factorials[i] = factor;
}
return factorials;
}
}

My implementation based on Mark Byers's description above:
static Set<String> permutations(String str){
if (str.isEmpty()){
return Collections.singleton(str);
}else{
Set <String> set = new HashSet<>();
for (int i=0; i<str.length(); i++)
for (String s : permutations(str.substring(0, i) + str.substring(i+1)))
set.add(str.charAt(i) + s);
return set;
}
}

Permutation of String:
public static void main(String args[]) {
permu(0,"ABCD");
}
static void permu(int fixed,String s) {
char[] chr=s.toCharArray();
if(fixed==s.length())
System.out.println(s);
for(int i=fixed;i<s.length();i++) {
char c=chr[i];
chr[i]=chr[fixed];
chr[fixed]=c;
permu(fixed+1,new String(chr));
}
}

Here is another simpler method of doing Permutation of a string.
public class Solution4 {
public static void main(String[] args) {
String a = "Protijayi";
per(a, 0);
}
static void per(String a , int start ) {
//bse case;
if(a.length() == start) {System.out.println(a);}
char[] ca = a.toCharArray();
//swap
for (int i = start; i < ca.length; i++) {
char t = ca[i];
ca[i] = ca[start];
ca[start] = t;
per(new String(ca),start+1);
}
}//per
}

A java implementation to print all the permutations of a given string considering duplicate characters and prints only unique characters is as follow:
import java.util.Set;
import java.util.HashSet;
public class PrintAllPermutations2
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
String str = "AAC";
PrintAllPermutations2 permutation = new PrintAllPermutations2();
Set<String> uniqueStrings = new HashSet<>();
permutation.permute("", str, uniqueStrings);
}
void permute(String prefixString, String s, Set<String> set)
{
int n = s.length();
if(n == 0)
{
if(!set.contains(prefixString))
{
System.out.println(prefixString);
set.add(prefixString);
}
}
else
{
for(int i=0; i<n; i++)
{
permute(prefixString + s.charAt(i), s.substring(0,i) + s.substring(i+1,n), set);
}
}
}
}

String permutaions using Es6
Using reduce() method
const permutations = str => {
if (str.length <= 2)
return str.length === 2 ? [str, str[1] + str[0]] : [str];
return str
.split('')
.reduce(
(acc, letter, index) =>
acc.concat(permutations(str.slice(0, index) + str.slice(index + 1)).map(val => letter + val)),
[]
);
};
console.log(permutations('STR'));

In case anyone wants to generate the permutations to do something with them, instead of just printing them via a void method:
static List<int[]> permutations(int n) {
class Perm {
private final List<int[]> permutations = new ArrayList<>();
private void perm(int[] array, int step) {
if (step == 1) permutations.add(array.clone());
else for (int i = 0; i < step; i++) {
perm(array, step - 1);
int j = (step % 2 == 0) ? i : 0;
swap(array, step - 1, j);
}
}
private void swap(int[] array, int i, int j) {
int buffer = array[i];
array[i] = array[j];
array[j] = buffer;
}
}
int[] nVector = new int[n];
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) nVector [i] = i;
Perm perm = new Perm();
perm.perm(nVector, n);
return perm.permutations;
}

Java method to parse strings

I have a input string like
{{1,2},{3,4},{5,6}}.
I want to read the numbers into an two dimensional array like
int[][] arr = {{1,2},{3,4},{5,6}}.
Is there a good way to convert this string into int[][] ? Thanks.

The basic idea is as follows, you will have to add error handling code and more logical calculation of array size yourself. I just wanted to display how to split the string and make int [][]array.
String test = "{{1,2},{3,4},{5,6}}";
test = test.replace("{", "");
test = test.replace("}", "");
String []nums = test.split(",");
int numIter = 0;
int outerlength = nums.length/2;
int [][]array = new int[outerlength][];
for(int i=0; i<outerlength; i++){
array[i] = new int[2];
for(int j=0;j<2;j++){
array[i][j] = Integer.parseInt(nums[numIter++]);
}
}
hope it helps!

I'd go for solution using dynamic storage such as List from Collections, and then convert this to fixed primitive array at the end.
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
System.out.println(Arrays.deepToString(parse("{{1,2},{3,4},{5,6}}")));
}
private static int[][] parse(String input) {
List<List<Integer>> output = new ArrayList<>();
List<Integer> destination = null;
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("[0-9]+|\\{|\\}");
Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(input);
int level = 0;
while (matcher.find()) {
String token = matcher.group();
if ("{".equals(token)) {
if (level == 1) {
destination = new ArrayList<Integer>();
output.add(destination);
}
level++;
} else if ("}".equals(token)) {
level--;
} else {
destination.add(Integer.parseInt(token));
}
}
int[][] array = new int[output.size()][];
for (int i = 0; i < output.size(); i++) {
List<Integer> each = output.get(i);
array[i] = new int[each.size()];
for (int k = 0; k < each.size(); k++) {
array[i][k] = each.get(k);
}
}
return array;
}
Another alternative would be translate { to [ and } to ], then you have JSON, just use your favourite JSON parser, here I used GSON.
private static int[][] parse(String string) {
JsonElement element = new JsonParser().parse(string.replace("{", "[").replace("}", "]"));
JsonArray obj = element.getAsJsonArray();
int [][] output = new int[obj.size()][];
for (int i = 0; i < obj.size(); i++) {
JsonArray each = obj.get(i).getAsJsonArray();
output[i] = new int[each.size()];
for (int k = 0; k < each.size(); k++) {
output[i][k] = each.get(k).getAsInt();
}
}
return output;
}

Java split string with combinations

My input string is
element1-element2-element3-element4a|element4b-element5-
Expected output is
element1-element2-element3-element4a-element5-
element1-element2-element3-element4b-element5-
So the dash (-) is the delimiter and the pipe (|) indicates two alternative elements for a position.
I am able to generate combinations for input containing a single pipe:
ArrayList<String> finalInput = new ArrayList<String>();
String Input = getInputPath();
StringBuilder TempInput = new StringBuilder();
if(Input.contains("|")) {
String[] splits = Input.split("\\|", 2);
TempInput.append(splits[0]+"-"+splits[1].split("-", 2)[1]);
finalInput.add(TempInput.toString());
TempInput = new StringBuilder();
String[] splits1 = new StringBuilder(Input).reverse().toString().split("\\|", 2);
finalInput.add(TempInput.append(splits1[0]+"-"+splits1[1].split("-", 2)[1]).reverse().toString());
}
But this logic fails if there are multiple pipe symbols.
How to split a String on the last occurrance only?
Is there any efficient way to use split String with combinations?
Input:
element1-element2-element3-element4a|element4b-element5-element6a|element6b
Output:
element1-element2-element3-element4a-element5-element6a
element1-element2-element3-element4b-element5-element6a
element1-element2-element3-element4a-element5-element6b
element1-element2-element3-element4b-element5-element6b

Recursion helps.
public static void main(String[] args) {
produce("element1-element2-element3-element4a|element4b"
+ "-element5-element6a|element6b");
}
private static void produce(String input) {
String[] sequence = input.split("-");
String[][] elements = new String[sequence.length][];
for (int i = 0; i < sequence.length; ++i) {
elements[i] = sequence[i].split("\\|");
}
List<String> results = new ArrayList<>();
walk(results, elements, 0, new StringBuilder());
}
private static void walk(List<String> results, String[][] elements,
int todoIndex, StringBuilder done) {
if (todoIndex >= elements.length) {
results.add(done.toString());
System.out.println(done);
return;
}
int doneLength = done.length();
for (String alternative : elements[todoIndex]) {
if (done.length() != 0) {
done.append('-');
}
done.append(alternative);
walk(results, elements, todoIndex + 1, done);
done.setLength(doneLength); // Undo
}
}
The String.split method is used twice to get a navigatable String[][]. And to build a final String a StringBuilder is used.

You can use StringTokenizer in Java. Basically it makes tokens of the string.
public StringTokenizer(String str, String delim)
Here's an example:
String msg = "http://100.15.111.60:80/";
char tokenSeparator= ':';
StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer(msg, tokenSeparator + "");
while(st.hasMoreTokens()) {
System.out.println(st.nextToken());
}

I have write a demo for you as what I comment after your post, the code may be ugly, but it works
public class TestSplit {
//define a stringList hold our result.
private static List<String> stringList = new ArrayList<String>();
//this method fork the list array when we meet a "|"
public static void forkStringList(){
List<String> tmpList = new ArrayList<String>();
for(String s: stringList){
tmpList.add(s);
}
stringList.addAll(tmpList);
}
//when we meet "|" split two elems, should add it to
//the string list half-half
public static void addTowElems(String s1, String s2){
for(int i=0;i<stringList.size()/2;i++){
stringList.set(i,stringList.get(i)+s1);
}
for(int i = stringList.size()/2;i<stringList.size();i++){
stringList.set(i,stringList.get(i)+s2);
}
}
// if not meet with a "|" just add elem to everyone of the stringlist
public static void addOneElem(String s){
for(int i=0;i<stringList.size();i++){
stringList.set(i,stringList.get(i)+s);
}
}
public static void main(String[] argvs){
//to make *fork* run, we must make sure there is a "init" string
//which is a empty string.
stringList.add("");
// this is your origin string.
String input = "a-b-c-d|e-f";
for (String s: input.split("\\-")){
if(s.contains("|")){
//when meet with "|", first fork the stringlist
forkStringList();
// then add them separately
addTowElems(s.split("\\|")[0],s.split("\\|")[1]);
}else {
// else just happily add the elem to every one
// of the stringlist
addOneElem(s);
}
}
//checkout the result, should be expected.
System.out.println(stringList);
}
}

Here's my iterative solution:
import java.util.*;
public class PathParser {
private static final String DELIMINATOR_CONCAT = "-";
private static final String DELIMINATOR_OPTION = "|";
private List<String> paths;
private List<String> stack;
private List<String> parse(final String pathSpec) {
stack = new ArrayList<String>();
paths = new ArrayList<String>();
paths.add("");
final StringTokenizer tok = createStringTokenizer(pathSpec);
while (tok.hasMoreTokens()) {
final String token = tok.nextToken();
parseToken(token);
}
if (!stack.isEmpty()) {
updatePaths();
}
return paths;
}
private void parseToken(final String token) {
if (DELIMINATOR_CONCAT.equals(token)) {
updatePaths();
} else if (DELIMINATOR_OPTION.equals(token)) {
// nothing to do
} else {
stack.add(token);
}
}
private void updatePaths() {
final List<String> originalPaths = new ArrayList<String>(paths);
paths.clear();
while (stack.size() > 0) {
paths.addAll(createNewPaths(originalPaths));
}
}
private List<String> createNewPaths(final List<String> originalPaths) {
final List<String> newPaths = new ArrayList<String>(originalPaths);
addPart(newPaths, stack.remove(0));
addPart(newPaths, DELIMINATOR_CONCAT);
return newPaths;
}
private void addPart(final List<String> paths, final String part) {
for (int i = 0; i < paths.size(); i++) {
paths.set(i, paths.get(i) + part);
}
}
private StringTokenizer createStringTokenizer(final String pathSpec) {
final boolean returnDelimiters = true;
final String delimiters = DELIMINATOR_CONCAT + DELIMINATOR_OPTION;
return new StringTokenizer(pathSpec, delimiters, returnDelimiters);
}
public static void main(final String[] args) {
final PathParser pathParser = new PathParser();
final String input = "element1-element2-element3-element4a|element4b|element4c-element5-element6a|element6b|element6c";
System.out.println("Input");
System.out.println(input);
System.out.println();
final List<String> paths = pathParser.parse(input);
System.out.println("Output");
for (final String path : paths) {
System.out.println(path);
}
}
}
Output:
Input
element1-element2-element3-element4a|element4b-element5-element6a|element6b
Output
element1-element2-element3-element4a-element5-element6a-
element1-element2-element3-element4b-element5-element6a-
element1-element2-element3-element4a-element5-element6b-
element1-element2-element3-element4b-element5-element6b-

This helps to acheive the same..
public class MultiStringSplitter {
public static void main(String arg[]) {
String input = "a-b|c-d|e-f|g-h";
String[] primeTokens = input.split("-");
String[] level2Tokens = null;
String element = "";
String level2element = "";
ArrayList stringList = new ArrayList();
ArrayList level1List = new ArrayList();
ArrayList level2List = new ArrayList();
for (int i = 0; i < primeTokens.length; i++) {
// System.out.print(primeTokens[i]);
if (primeTokens[i].contains("|")) {
level2Tokens = primeTokens[i].split("\\|");
for (int j = 0; j < level2Tokens.length; j++) {
for (int k = 0; k < stringList.size(); k++) {
element = (String) stringList.get(k);
level2element = element + level2Tokens[j];
level2List.add(level2element);
}
}
stringList = new ArrayList();
for (int w = 0; w < level2List.size(); w++) {
stringList.add(level2List.get(w));
}
level2List = new ArrayList();
}
else {
if (stringList.size() > 0) {
for (int z = 0; z < stringList.size(); z++) {
element = (String) stringList.get(z);
element = element + primeTokens[i];
level1List.add(element);
}
stringList = new ArrayList();
for (int w = 0; w < level1List.size(); w++) {
stringList.add(level1List.get(w));
}
level1List = new ArrayList();
}
else {
element = element + primeTokens[i];
if (stringList.size() == 0) {
stringList.add(element);
}
}
}
}
for (int q = 0; q < stringList.size(); q++) {
System.out.println(stringList.get(q));
}
}
}
Input : a-b|c-d|e-f|g-h
Output:
abdfh
acdfh
abefh
acefh
abdgh
acdgh
abegh
acegh

Java How to return unique index of char in string?

I need to return unique value of character in string.
I'm using String.indexOf(), but it doesn't work correct for me.
For example: camera
indexes: c-0, a-1, m-2, e-3, r-4, a-5
String.indexOf() always returns index 1 for letter "a", not 1 and 5 as I need.
Any ideas how to solve it?

public static void main(String[] args) {
List<Integer> indexes = getIndexInString("camera", "a");
System.out.println(indexes);
}
public static List<Integer> getIndexInString(String str, String charToFind) {
List<Integer> indexes = new ArrayList<Integer>();
int i = -1;
while (true) {
i = str.indexOf(charToFind, i + 1);
if (i == -1)
break;
else
indexes.add(i);
}
return indexes;
}

Here you go.
public static void main(String[] args) {
String text = "camera";
String[] indexes = getIndexesOf(text);
for(String i : indexes) {
System.out.println(i);
}
System.out.println();
int[] result = indexOfChar(text, "a");
for(int i : result) {
System.out.print(i +",");
}
}
public static String[] getIndexesOf(String text) {
String[] indexes = new String[text.length()];
for(int i=0; i<text.length(); i++) {
indexes[i] = text.charAt(i) + "-" + i;
}
return indexes;
}
public static int[] indexOfChar(String text, String c) {
List<Integer> indexOfChars = new ArrayList<Integer>();
for(int i=0; i<text.length(); i++) {
if(String.valueOf(text.charAt(i)).equals(c)) {
indexOfChars.add(i);
}
}
int [] retIndexes = new int[indexOfChars.size()];
for(int i=0; i<retIndexes.length; i++) {
retIndexes[i] = indexOfChars.get(i).intValue();
}
return retIndexes;
}

Alternate display of 2 strings in Java

I have a java program where the following is what I wanted to achieve:
first input: ABC
second input: xyz
output: AxByCz
and my Java program is as follows:
import java.io.*;
class DisplayStringAlternately
{
public static void main(String[] arguments)
{
String firstC[], secondC[];
firstC = new String[] {"A","B","C"};
secondC = new String[] {"x","y","z"};
displayStringAlternately(firstC, secondC);
}
public static void displayStringAlternately (String[] firstString, String[] secondString)
{
int combinedLengthOfStrings = firstString.length + secondString.length;
for(int counter = 1, i = 0; i < combinedLengthOfStrings; counter++, i++)
{
if(counter % 2 == 0)
{
System.out.print(secondString[i]);
}
else
{
System.out.print(firstString[i]);
}
}
}
}
however I encounter the following runtime error:
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 3
AyC at DisplayStringAlternately.displayStringAlternately(DisplayStringAlternately.java:23)
at DisplayStringAlternately.main(DisplayStringAlternately.java:12)
Java Result: 1
What mistake is in my Java program?

If both arrays have same length for loop should continue while i < anyArray.length.
Also you don't need any counter to determine from which array you should print first. Just hardcode that first element will be printed from firstString and next one from secondString.
So your displayStringAlternately method can look like
public static void displayStringAlternately(String[] firstString,
String[] secondString) {
for (int i = 0; i < firstString.length; i++) {
System.out.print(firstString[i]);
System.out.print(secondString[i]);
}
}
Anyway your code throws ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException because each time you decide from which array print element you are incrementing i, so effectively you are jumping through arrays this way
i=0 i=2
{"A","B","C"};
{"x","y","z"};
i=1 i=3
^^^-here is the problem
so as you see your code tries to access element from second array which is not inside of it (it is out of its bounds).

As you commented, If both arrays length is same, you can simply do
firstC = new String[] {"A","B","C"};
secondC = new String[] {"x","y","z"};
Then
for(int i = 0; i < firstC.length; i++) {
System.out.print(firstC[i]);
System.out.print(secondC[i]);
}

Using the combined length of the Strings is wrong, since, for example, secondString[i] would cause an exception when i >= secondString.length.

Try the below working code with high performance
public static void main(String[] arguments)
{
String firstC[], secondC[];
firstC = new String[] {"A","B","C"};
secondC = new String[] {"x","y","z"};
StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
for (int i = 0; i < firstC.length; i++) {
builder.append(firstC[i]);
builder.append(secondC[i]);
}
System.out.println(builder.toString());
}

public class concad {
public void main(String[] args) {
String s1 = "RAMESH";
String s2 = "SURESH";
int i;
int j;
for (i = 0; i < s1.length(); i++) {
System.out.print(s1.charAt(i));
for (j = i; j <= i; j++) {
if (j == i) {
System.out.print(s2.charAt(j));
}
}
}
}
}

I have taken two strings as mentioned.Then pass one counter variable in inner for-loop with second string,Then for every even position pass with code "counter%2".Check this out if any concern then comment below.
public class AlternatePosition {
public static void main(String[] arguments) {
String abc = "abcd";
String def = "efgh";
displayStringAlternately(abc, def);
}
public static void displayStringAlternately(String firstString, String secondString) {
for (int i = 0; i < firstString.length(); i++) {
for (int counter = 1, j = 0; j < secondString.length(); counter++, j++) {
if (counter % 2 == 0) {
System.out.print(secondString.charAt(i));
break;
} else {
System.out.print(firstString.charAt(i));
}
}
}
}
}