Help needed with permutation function.

This function will eventually calculate all the permutaions for a set of letter of n length. I'm stumped on whether to declare something as a string or a char or a char and a char *. Any help would be appreciated.

Code:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

char GETALLCOMBOZ(char charact,int num){

char *myArr = new char[num+1];

int numofperms;
char comboz;
bool booler = false;

    do {
    
        myArr[numofperms] = myArr[numofperms]+ 1;
      
        if (numofperms == num)
        {
         
        comboz = comboz.substr(0, num - 1)+ charact.substr(myArr[numofperms],  1);
         
        }
      
        else
        {
          
        comboz = comboz + charact.substr(myArr[numofperms],  1);
        
        }
        
        if(myArr[numofperms] != strlen(charact) + 1) 
        
        {
                                     
            if(numofperms!= num)
                {
                
                numofperms = numofperms + 1;
                
                }
                
             else
               {
             
               cout << comboz;
               }
        
         else
         {
            
            if (numofperms == 1)
            
                {
              
                booler = true;
                }
           
             else {
            
                myArr[numofperms] = 0;
             
                numofperms = numofperms - 1;
             
                comboz = comboz.substr(0, numofperms - 1);
                }
     
        }
        
        
        }while (booler != true);
        
        
        }

well .substr works on strings, but strlen() works on char *'s. The std::string equivilent to strlen() is s.length() or s.size(). Your code confused me, so I am just going to give you the stl style answer

Code:

#include<iostream>
#include<string>
#include<algorithm>

void allperm(std::string s) {
	std::sort(s.begin(),s.end());
	do {
		std::cout << s << std::endl;
	} while(std::next_permutation(s.begin(),s.end()));
}

Good luck on strings longer than about 10 characters or so.

Originally Posted by grib

well .substr works on strings, but strlen() works on char *'s. The std::string equivilent to strlen() is s.length() or s.size(). Your code confused me, so I am just going to give you the stl style answer

Code:

#include<iostream>
#include<string>
#include<algorithm>

void allperm(std::string s) {
	std::sort(s.begin(),s.end());
	do {
		std::cout << s << std::endl;
	} while(std::next_permutation(s.begin(),s.end()));
}

Good luck on strings longer than about 10 characters or so.

That doesn't give all combinations, for ex. for a string "asd" all combos would be

aaa
aas
aad
asa
ada
saa
daa
sss
ssa
.....
.....
etc....

Then you should have said so. The topic title asks for permutations, but apparently you want combinations.

Anyway, I think the most straightforward way to get all combinations is to get all letter sets (i.e. "aaa", "aas", "aad", "asd", "ssd", "sss", "sdd", "ddd", "add", and "ass") and then use Salem's next_permutation loop on each.

> and then use Salem's next_permutation loop on each.
Hey, don't pin this on me
<bart>I didn't do it</bart>

This is an attempt at porting VB code, here's the VB code and my attempt at the C++. It does compile but not doing the job.

Code:

Private Sub command1_Click()

    BOOLER = False
  GETALLCOMBOZ charz, 3   ' 4 = number of character combinations to try
  
End Sub

Public Sub GETALLCOMBOZ(ByVal charact As String, _
                  ByVal num As Byte)

    ReDim myarray(num)
    Do While Not (BOOLER)
 
        myarray(numofperms) = myarray(numofperms) + 1
        If numofperms = num Then
            comboz = Left$(comboz, num - 1) + Mid$(charact, myarray(numofperms), 1)
         Else
            comboz = comboz + Mid$(charact, myarray(numofperms), 1)
        End If
        If myarray(numofperms) <> Len(charact) + 1 Then
            If numofperms <> num Then
                numofperms = numofperms + 1
             Else
               Print #1, comboz
            End If
         Else
            If numofperms = 1 Then
                BOOLER = True
             Else
                myarray(numofperms) = 0
                numofperms = numofperms - 1
                comboz = Left$(comboz, numofperms - 1)
            End If
        End If
    Loop
    Close #1

End Sub

Code:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <conio.h>
#include <fstream>

using namespace std;

char *GetAllCombinations(string charact,int num);

int main(){
    
    GetAllCombinations("abcd",3);
    // for example  aaa, aab, aac, aad, aba, aca, ada, baa, caa, daa
}



char *GetAllCombinations(string charact,int num){
// redim array to size num     
char *myArr = new char[num];
// init vars
int numofperms = 0;
string comboz;
bool booler = false;
// open file for writing too
ofstream a_file ( "c:\\windows\\desktop\\comboz.txt" );
// start combinations loop

    do {
        
        myArr[numofperms] = myArr[numofperms]+ 1;
        
        if (numofperms == num)
        { 
              
        comboz = comboz.substr(0, num - 1)+ charact.substr(myArr[numofperms],  1);
        }
        else
        {
        comboz = comboz + charact.substr(myArr[numofperms],  1);
       
        }
       
        if(myArr[numofperms] != charact.length() + 1) 
        
        {
             if(numofperms!= num)
             {
             numofperms = numofperms + 1;
             }
             else
             {
             cout << comboz;
             a_file<< comboz ;
             }
         }
         else
         {
             if (numofperms == 1)
             {
             booler = true;
             }
             else 
             {
             myArr[numofperms] = 0;
             numofperms = numofperms - 1;
             comboz = comboz.substr(0, numofperms - 1);
             }
     
          }
        
        }while (booler != true);
        a_file.close();
}

If anybody could work out whats wrong with my C++ then cheers.

1. Code:

   char *GetAllCombinations(string charact,int num);

   You don't return anything, even though the function is declared to return a char*.
2. Code:

   if(myArr[numofperms] != charact.length() + 1)

   Is that what you want? I see that's how it is in the VB code . . . .
3. Code:

   myArr[numofperms] = myArr[numofperms]+ 1;

   ->
   
   Code:

   myArr[numofperms] ++;

   and
   
   Code:

   comboz = comboz + charact.substr(myArr[numofperms],  1);

   ->
   
   Code:

   comboz += charact.substr(myArr[numofperms],  1);

4. Code:

   char *myArr = new char[num];

   You don't delete that memory.
5. Code:

   #include <conio.h>

   That's non-standard, and besides you don't use it anywhere.

Thanks for that reply your suggestions are useful.

I'm not returning anything i'm printing the combination to a file during the loop. This is the part where it gets stuck on , gives an abnormal termination in command prompt,

Code:

if (numofperms == num)
        { 
              
        comboz = comboz.substr(0, num - 1)+ charact.substr(myArr[numofperms],  1);
        }
        else
        {
        comboz = comboz + charact.substr(myArr[numofperms],  1);
       
        }

does that code look ok. Been a while since i did any C++?

gives an abnormal termination in command prompt

A segmentation fault, I'd guess. Because myArr isn't initialized to zero like you assume it to be.

Originally Posted by dwks

A segmentation fault, I'd guess. Because myArr isn't initialized to zero like you assume it to be.

how do i do that ?

Since myArr is an array of chars you can use memset. I would use a vector instead of a dynamic array, though, which allows you to initialize all values to 0 in the constructor.

Originally Posted by Daved

Since myArr is an array of chars you can use memset. I would use a vector instead of a dynamic array, though, which allows you to initialize all values to 0 in the constructor.

any chance of writing it, it must be nearly there ?

groan... this is like pulling teeth..

i thikn its this section here,

Code:

char GetAllCombinations(string charact,int num);

int main(){
    
    GetAllCombinations("abcd",3);
    // for example  aaa, aab, aac, aad, aba, aca, ada, baa, caa, daa
}


char GetAllCombinations(string charact,int num){

char *myArr = new char[num];  // think this is wrong

int numofperms = 0;
string comboz;        ' string or char ?
bool booler = false;


    do {
        
        myArr[numofperms] ++;
        
        if (numofperms == num)
        { 
              
        comboz = comboz.substr(0, num - 1)+ charact.substr(myArr[numofperms],  1);
        }
        else
        {
        comboz += charact.substr(myArr[numofperms],  1);
       
        }

any thoughts?

groan... this is like pulling teeth..

Welcome to programming.

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Combination.html

Maybe this?

http://paul.rutgers.edu/~rhoads/Code/code.html

And use delete.