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What should I do? I have a recursive function that returns the mth item of a n-bonacci sequence. It has for loop. I am banned from using loops

I have the following recursive function to get the mth term of a n-bonacci sequence as shown below this question. My problem is that the use of for and while loops is totally banned from the code, so I need to get rid off
for i in range(1, n+1):
temp += n_bonacci(n,m-i)
and convert the code into something that is not a loop but nevertheless achieves the same effect. Among the things I can use, but this is not an exclusive enumeration, is: (1) use built-in functions like sum() and .join() and (2) use list comprehensions.
The full code is as follows:
def n_bonacci(n,m): #n is the number of n initial terms; m is the mth term.
if (m < n-1):
return 0
elif (m == n-1):
return 1
else:
temp = 0
#[temp += n_bonacci(n,m-i) for i in range(n)] #this is an attempt at using list comprehension
for i in range(1, n+1):
temp += n_bonacci(n,m-i)
return temp
print("n_bonacci:",n_bonacci(2,10))
print("n_bonacci:",n_bonacci(7,20))

Here's a solution that avoids any type of loop, including loops hidden inside comprehensions:
def n_bonacci_loopless(n, m):
def inner(i, c):
if i == m:
return sum(c)
else:
return inner(i+1, c[-(n-1):] + [sum(c)])
if m < n-1:
return 0
elif (m == n-1):
return 1
else:
return inner(n, [0] * (n-1) + [1])
The base cases are the same, but for recursive cases it initialises a list of collected results c with n-1 zeroes, followed by a one, the sum of which would be the correct answer for m == n.
For m > n, the inner function is called again as long as i < m, summing the list and appending the result to the end of the last n-1 elements of the list so far.
If you are allowed to use comprehensions, the answer is trivial:
def n_bonacci(n,m):
if (m < n-1):
return 0
elif (m == n-1):
return 1
else:
return sum(n_bonacci(n, m-i) for i in range(1, n+1))

You can rewrite the code as follows using list comprehensions:
def n_bonacci(n,m): #n is the number of n initial terms; m is the mth term.
if (m < n-1):
return 0
elif (m == n-1):
return 1
else:
return sum(n_bonacci(n, m-i) for i in range(1, n + 1))
print("n_bonacci:",n_bonacci(2,10))
print("n_bonacci:",n_bonacci(7,20))
To go beyond #Grismar 's answer you can write your own version of sum which doesn't use loops.
def n_bonacci_loopless(n, m):
def recsum(l, s=0):
return recsum(l[1:], s + l[0])
def inner(i, c):
if i == m:
return recsum(c)
else:
return inner(i+1, c[-(n-1):] + [recsum(c)])
if m < n-1:
return 0
elif (m == n-1):
return 1
else:
return inner(n, [0] * (n-1) + [1])

How can I avoid exceeding maximum recursion depth when generating a Hadamard Matrix?

I am trying to recursively generate Hadamard matrices by Sylvester construction, following this recurrence formula:
H(2) = (1 1)
(1 -1)
H(2**k) = ( H(2**(k-1)) H(2**(k-1)) )
( H(2**(k-1)) -H(2**(k-1)) )
this formula as an image of LaTeX
Or using the notation (x) for Kronecker product:
H(2**k) = H(2) (x) H(2**(k-1))
My code to generate a Hadamard matrix by Sylvester construction is as follows:
def deepMap(f,seq):
if seq == []:
return seq
elif type(seq) != list:
return f(seq)
else:
return [deepMap(f,seq[0])] + deepMap(f,seq[1:])
def Hadamard(n): #n is a power of 2
if n == 1:
return [1]
elif n == 2:
return [[1,1],[1,-1]]
else:
k = 2
array = [Hadamard(k)]
while k < n:
k *= 2
matrix,prev = [],array.pop(0)
for i in range(k):
if i < k//2:
matrix.append(prev[i]+prev[i])
else:
matrix.append(prev[i%(k//2)]+deepMap(lambda x: -x,prev[i%(k//2)]))
array.append(matrix)
#print(f'matrix {k} = {matrix}')
return array[0]
The code works, but is pretty slow, and exceeds maximum depth recursion when n > 1024.
How could I make the code handle larger values of n?
Context: This code was written for a Kattis question https://open.kattis.com/problems/sylvester

Fixing your code: recursion in deepMap
With just a small modification to your deepMap function, it becomes faster and avoids stacking up thousands of recursive calls: replace return [deepMap(f,seq[0])] + deepMap(f,seq[1:]) with return [deepMap(f, x) for x in seq].
def deepMap(f,seq):
if seq == []:
return seq
elif type(seq) != list:
return f(seq)
else:
return [deepMap(f, x) for x in seq]
def Hadamard(n): #n is a power of 2
if n == 1:
return [1]
elif n == 2:
return [[1,1],[1,-1]]
else:
k = 2
array = [Hadamard(k)]
while k < n:
k *= 2
matrix,prev = [],array.pop(0)
for i in range(k):
if i < k//2:
matrix.append(prev[i]+prev[i])
else:
matrix.append(prev[i%(k//2)]+deepMap(lambda x: -x,prev[i%(k//2)]))
array.append(matrix)
#print(f'matrix {k} = {matrix}')
return array[0]
print( Hadamard(2048) ) # should take less than a second
A different version: avoiding .append
Since we already know the size of the matrix, I suggest creating a matrix that already has the correct size, then filling it recursively or iteratively. To fill the matrix, I made a function dup that duplicates a quadrant of the matrix to another quadrant.
def dup(h, k, i0,j0, s=1):
for i in range(k):
for j in range(k):
h[i0+i][j0+j] = s * h[i][j]
def had(n):
'''assume n >= 2 is a power of 2'''
h = [[0 for _ in range(n)] for _ in range(n)]
h[0][0]=1
h[0][1]=1
h[1][0]=1
h[1][1]=-1
k = 2
while k < n:
dup(h, k, 0,k)
dup(h, k, k,0)
dup(h, k, k,k, -1)
k *= 2
return h
print( had(2048) )
Using numpy: everything is easy with concatenate
Using numpy.concatenate, the code becomes much shorter, much much faster, and easier to read:
from numpy import array, concatenate
def hadamard(n):
'''assume n is a power of 2'''
if n == 1:
return array([1])
elif n == 2:
return array([[1,1],[1,-1]])
else:
a = hadamard(n // 2)
return concatenate(
(concatenate((a, a), axis=1),
concatenate((a, -a), axis=1)),
axis=0
)
print( hadamard(2048) )

Optimal Search Tree Using Python - Code Analysis

First of all, sorry about the naive question. But I couldn't find help elsewhere
I'm trying to create an Optimal Search Tree using Dynamic Programing in Python that receives two lists (a set of keys and a set of frequencies) and returns two answers:
1 - The smallest path cost.
2 - The generated tree for that smallest cost.
I basically need to create a tree organized by the most accessed items on top (most accessed item it's the root), and return the smallest path cost from that tree, by using the Dynamic Programming solution.
I've the following implemented code using Python:
def optimalSearchTree(keys, freq, n):
#Create an auxiliary 2D matrix to store results of subproblems
cost = [[0 for x in xrange(n)] for y in xrange(n)]
#For a single key, cost is equal to frequency of the key
#for i in xrange (0,n):
# cost[i][i] = freq[i]
# Now we need to consider chains of length 2, 3, ... .
# L is chain length.
for L in xrange (2,n):
for i in xrange(0,n-L+1):
j = i+L-1
cost[i][j] = sys.maxint
for r in xrange (i,j):
if (r > i):
c = cost[i][r-1] + sum(freq, i, j)
elif (r < j):
c = cost[r+1][j] + sum(freq, i, j)
elif (c < cost[i][j]):
cost[i][j] = c
return cost[0][n-1]
def sum(freq, i, j):
s = 0
k = i
for k in xrange (k,j):
s += freq[k]
return s
keys = [10,12,20]
freq = [34,8,50]
n=sys.getsizeof(keys)/sys.getsizeof(keys[0])
print(optimalSearchTree(keys, freq, n))
I'm trying to output the answer 1. The smallest cost for that tree should be 142 (the value stored on the Matrix Position [0][n-1], according to the Dynamic Programming solution). But unfortunately it's returning 0. I couldn't find any issues in that code. What's going wrong?

You have several very questionable statements in your code, definitely inspired by C/Java programming practices. For instance,
keys = [10,12,20]
freq = [34,8,50]
n=sys.getsizeof(keys)/sys.getsizeof(keys[0])
I think you think you calculate the number of items in the list. However, n is not 3:
sys.getsizeof(keys)/sys.getsizeof(keys[0])
3.142857142857143
What you need is this:
n = len(keys)
One more find: elif (r < j) is always True, because r is in the range between i (inclusive) and j (exclusive). The elif (c < cost[i][j]) condition is never checked. The matrix c is never updated in the loop - that's why you always end up with a 0.
Another suggestion: do not overwrite the built-in function sum(). Your namesake function calculates the sum of all items in a slice of a list:
sum(freq[i:j])

import sys
def optimalSearchTree(keys, freq):
#Create an auxiliary 2D matrix to store results of subproblems
n = len(keys)
cost = [[0 for x in range(n)] for y in range(n)]
storeRoot = [[0 for i in range(n)] for i in range(n)]
#For a single key, cost is equal to frequency of the key
for i in range (0,n):
cost[i][i] = freq[i]
# Now we need to consider chains of length 2, 3, ... .
# L is chain length.
for L in range (2,n+1):
for i in range(0,n-L+1):
j = i + L - 1
cost[i][j] = sys.maxsize
for r in range (i,j+1):
c = (cost[i][r-1] if r > i else 0)
c += (cost[r+1][j] if r < j else 0)
c += sum(freq[i:j+1])
if (c < cost[i][j]):
cost[i][j] = c
storeRoot[i][j] = r
return cost[0][n-1], storeRoot
if __name__ == "__main__" :
keys = [10,12,20]
freq = [34,8,50]
print(optimalSearchTree(keys, freq))

computing determinant of a matrix (nxn) recursively

I'm about to write some code that computes the determinant of a square matrix (nxn), using the Laplace algorithm (Meaning recursive algorithm) as written Wikipedia's Laplace Expansion.
I already have the class Matrix, which includes init, setitem, getitem, repr and all the things I need to compute the determinant (including minor(i,j)).
So I've tried the code below:
def determinant(self,i=0) # i can be any of the matrix's rows
assert isinstance(self,Matrix)
n,m = self.dim() # Q.dim() returns the size of the matrix Q
assert n == m
if (n,m) == (1,1):
return self[0,0]
det = 0
for j in range(n):
det += ((-1)**(i+j))*(self[i,j])*((self.minor(i,j)).determinant())
return det
As expected, in every recursive call, self turns into an appropriate minor. But when coming back from the recursive call, it doesn't change back to it's original matrix.
This causes trouble when in the for loop (when the function arrives at (n,m)==(1,1), this one value of the matrix is returned, but in the for loop, self is still a 1x1 matrix - why?)

Are you sure that your minor returns the a new object and not a reference to your original matrix object? I used your exact determinant method and implemented a minor method for your class, and it works fine for me.
Below is a quick/dirty implementation of your matrix class, since I don't have your implementation. For brevity I have chosen to implement it for square matrices only, which in this case shouldn't matter as we are dealing with determinants. Pay attention to det method, that is the same as yours, and minor method (the rest of the methods are there to facilitate the implementation and testing):
class matrix:
def __init__(self, n):
self.data = [0.0 for i in range(n*n)]
self.dim = n
#classmethod
def rand(self, n):
import random
a = matrix(n)
for i in range(n):
for j in range(n):
a[i,j] = random.random()
return a
#classmethod
def eye(self, n):
a = matrix(n)
for i in range(n):
a[i,i] = 1.0
return a
def __repr__(self):
n = self.dim
for i in range(n):
print str(self.data[i*n: i*n+n])
return ''
def __getitem__(self,(i,j)):
assert i < self.dim and j < self.dim
return self.data[self.dim*i + j]
def __setitem__(self, (i, j), val):
assert i < self.dim and j < self.dim
self.data[self.dim*i + j] = float(val)
#
def minor(self, i,j):
n = self.dim
assert i < n and j < n
a = matrix(self.dim-1)
for k in range(n):
for l in range(n):
if k == i or l == j: continue
if k < i:
K = k
else:
K = k-1
if l < j:
L = l
else:
L = l-1
a[K,L] = self[k,l]
return a
def det(self, i=0):
n = self.dim
if n == 1:
return self[0,0]
d = 0
for j in range(n):
d += ((-1)**(i+j))*(self[i,j])*((self.minor(i,j)).det())
return d
def __mul__(self, v):
n = self.dim
a = matrix(n)
for i in range(n):
for j in range(n):
a[i,j] = v * self[i,j]
return a
__rmul__ = __mul__
Now for testing
import numpy as np
a = matrix(3)
# same matrix from the Wikipedia page
a[0,0] = 1
a[0,1] = 2
a[0,2] = 3
a[1,0] = 4
a[1,1] = 5
a[1,2] = 6
a[2,0] = 7
a[2,1] = 8
a[2,2] = 9
a.det() # returns 0.0
# trying with numpy the same matrix
A = np.array(a.data).reshape([3,3])
print np.linalg.det(A) # returns -9.51619735393e-16
The residual in case of numpy is because it calculates the determinant through (Gaussian) elimination method rather than the Laplace expansion. You can also compare the results on random matrices to see that the difference between your determinant function and numpy's doesn't grow beyond float precision:
import numpy as np
a = 10*matrix.rand(4)
A = np.array( a.data ).reshape([4,4])
print (np.linalg.det(A) - a.det())/a.det() # varies between zero and 1e-14

use Sarrus' Rule (non recursive method)
example on below link is in Javascript, but easily can be written in python
https://github.com/apanasara/Faster_nxn_Determinant

import numpy as np
def smaller_matrix(original_matrix,row, column):
for ii in range(len(original_matrix)):
new_matrix=np.delete(original_matrix,ii,0)
new_matrix=np.delete(new_matrix,column,1)
return new_matrix
def determinant(matrix):
"""Returns a determinant of a matrix by recursive method."""
(r,c) = matrix.shape
if r != c:
print("Error!Not a square matrix!")
return None
elif r==2:
simple_determinant = matrix[0][0]*matrix[1][1]-matrix[0][1]*matrix[1][0]
return simple_determinant
else:
answer=0
for j in range(r):
cofactor = (-1)**(0+j) * matrix[0][j] * determinant(smaller_matrix(matrix, 0, j))
answer+= cofactor
return answer
#test the function
#Only works for numpy.array input
np.random.seed(1)
matrix=np.random.rand(5,5)
determinant(matrix)

Here's the function in python 3.
Note: I used a one-dimensional list to house the matrix and the size array is the amount of rows or columns in the square array. It uses a recursive algorithm to find the determinant.
def solve(matrix,size):
c = []
d = 0
print_matrix(matrix,size)
if size == 0:
for i in range(len(matrix)):
d = d + matrix[i]
return d
elif len(matrix) == 4:
c = (matrix[0] * matrix[3]) - (matrix[1] * matrix[2])
print(c)
return c
else:
for j in range(size):
new_matrix = []
for i in range(size*size):
if i % size != j and i > = size:
new_matrix.append(matrix[i])
c.append(solve(new_matrix,size-1) * matrix[j] * ((-1)**(j+2)))
d = solve(c,0)
return d

i posted this code because i couldn't fine it on the internet, how to solve n*n determinant using only standard library.
the purpose is to share it with those who will find it useful.
i started by calculating the submatrix Ai related to a(0,i).
and i used recursive determinant to make it short.
def submatrix(M, c):
B = [[1] * len(M) for i in range(len(M))]
for l in range(len(M)):
for k in range(len(M)):
B[l][k] = M[l][k]
B.pop(0)
for i in range(len(B)):
B[i].pop(c)
return B
def det(M):
X = 0
if len(M) != len(M[0]):
print('matrice non carrée')
else:
if len(M) <= 2:
return M[0][0] * M[1][1] - M[0][1] * M[1][0]
else:
for i in range(len(M)):
X = X + ((-1) ** (i)) * M[0][i] * det(submatrix(M, i))
return X
sorry for not commenting before guys :)
if you need any further explanation don't hesitate to ask .

Finding all possible permutations of a given string in python

I have a string. I want to generate all permutations from that string, by changing the order of characters in it. For example, say:
x='stack'
what I want is a list like this,
l=['stack','satck','sackt'.......]
Currently I am iterating on the list cast of the string, picking 2 letters randomly and transposing them to form a new string, and adding it to set cast of l. Based on the length of the string, I am calculating the number of permutations possible and continuing iterations till set size reaches the limit.
There must be a better way to do this.

The itertools module has a useful method called permutations(). The documentation says:
itertools.permutations(iterable[, r])
Return successive r length permutations of elements in the iterable.
If r is not specified or is None, then r defaults to the length of the
iterable and all possible full-length permutations are generated.
Permutations are emitted in lexicographic sort order. So, if the input
iterable is sorted, the permutation tuples will be produced in sorted
order.
You'll have to join your permuted letters as strings though.
>>> from itertools import permutations
>>> perms = [''.join(p) for p in permutations('stack')]
>>> perms
['stack', 'stakc', 'stcak', 'stcka', 'stkac', 'stkca', 'satck',
'satkc', 'sactk', 'sackt', 'saktc', 'sakct', 'sctak', 'sctka',
'scatk', 'scakt', 'sckta', 'sckat', 'sktac', 'sktca', 'skatc',
'skact', 'skcta', 'skcat', 'tsack', 'tsakc', 'tscak', 'tscka',
'tskac', 'tskca', 'tasck', 'taskc', 'tacsk', 'tacks', 'taksc',
'takcs', 'tcsak', 'tcska', 'tcask', 'tcaks', 'tcksa', 'tckas',
'tksac', 'tksca', 'tkasc', 'tkacs', 'tkcsa', 'tkcas', 'astck',
'astkc', 'asctk', 'asckt', 'asktc', 'askct', 'atsck', 'atskc',
'atcsk', 'atcks', 'atksc', 'atkcs', 'acstk', 'acskt', 'actsk',
'actks', 'ackst', 'ackts', 'akstc', 'aksct', 'aktsc', 'aktcs',
'akcst', 'akcts', 'cstak', 'cstka', 'csatk', 'csakt', 'cskta',
'cskat', 'ctsak', 'ctska', 'ctask', 'ctaks', 'ctksa', 'ctkas',
'castk', 'caskt', 'catsk', 'catks', 'cakst', 'cakts', 'cksta',
'cksat', 'cktsa', 'cktas', 'ckast', 'ckats', 'kstac', 'kstca',
'ksatc', 'ksact', 'kscta', 'kscat', 'ktsac', 'ktsca', 'ktasc',
'ktacs', 'ktcsa', 'ktcas', 'kastc', 'kasct', 'katsc', 'katcs',
'kacst', 'kacts', 'kcsta', 'kcsat', 'kctsa', 'kctas', 'kcast',
'kcats']
If you find yourself troubled by duplicates, try fitting your data into a structure with no duplicates like a set:
>>> perms = [''.join(p) for p in permutations('stacks')]
>>> len(perms)
720
>>> len(set(perms))
360
Thanks to #pst for pointing out that this is not what we'd traditionally think of as a type cast, but more of a call to the set() constructor.

You can get all N! permutations without much code
def permutations(string, step = 0):
# if we've gotten to the end, print the permutation
if step == len(string):
print "".join(string)
# everything to the right of step has not been swapped yet
for i in range(step, len(string)):
# copy the string (store as array)
string_copy = [character for character in string]
# swap the current index with the step
string_copy[step], string_copy[i] = string_copy[i], string_copy[step]
# recurse on the portion of the string that has not been swapped yet (now it's index will begin with step + 1)
permutations(string_copy, step + 1)

Here is another way of doing the permutation of string with minimal code based on bactracking.
We basically create a loop and then we keep swapping two characters at a time,
Inside the loop we'll have the recursion. Notice,we only print when indexers reaches the length of our string.
Example:
ABC
i for our starting point and our recursion param
j for our loop
here is a visual help how it works from left to right top to bottom (is the order of permutation)
the code :
def permute(data, i, length):
if i==length:
print(''.join(data) )
else:
for j in range(i,length):
#swap
data[i], data[j] = data[j], data[i]
permute(data, i+1, length)
data[i], data[j] = data[j], data[i]
string = "ABC"
n = len(string)
data = list(string)
permute(data, 0, n)

Stack Overflow users have already posted some strong solutions but I wanted to show yet another solution. This one I find to be more intuitive
The idea is that for a given string: we can recurse by the algorithm (pseudo-code):
permutations = char + permutations(string - char) for char in string
I hope it helps someone!
def permutations(string):
"""
Create all permutations of a string with non-repeating characters
"""
permutation_list = []
if len(string) == 1:
return [string]
else:
for char in string:
[permutation_list.append(char + a) for a in permutations(string.replace(char, "", 1))]
return permutation_list

Here's a simple function to return unique permutations:
def permutations(string):
if len(string) == 1:
return string
recursive_perms = []
for c in string:
for perm in permutations(string.replace(c,'',1)):
recursive_perms.append(c+perm)
return set(recursive_perms)

itertools.permutations is good, but it doesn't deal nicely with sequences that contain repeated elements. That's because internally it permutes the sequence indices and is oblivious to the sequence item values.
Sure, it's possible to filter the output of itertools.permutations through a set to eliminate the duplicates, but it still wastes time generating those duplicates, and if there are several repeated elements in the base sequence there will be lots of duplicates. Also, using a collection to hold the results wastes RAM, negating the benefit of using an iterator in the first place.
Fortunately, there are more efficient approaches. The code below uses the algorithm of the 14th century Indian mathematician Narayana Pandita, which can be found in the Wikipedia article on Permutation. This ancient algorithm is still one of the fastest known ways to generate permutations in order, and it is quite robust, in that it properly handles permutations that contain repeated elements.
def lexico_permute_string(s):
''' Generate all permutations in lexicographic order of string `s`
This algorithm, due to Narayana Pandita, is from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permutation#Generation_in_lexicographic_order
To produce the next permutation in lexicographic order of sequence `a`
1. Find the largest index j such that a[j] < a[j + 1]. If no such index exists,
the permutation is the last permutation.
2. Find the largest index k greater than j such that a[j] < a[k].
3. Swap the value of a[j] with that of a[k].
4. Reverse the sequence from a[j + 1] up to and including the final element a[n].
'''
a = sorted(s)
n = len(a) - 1
while True:
yield ''.join(a)
#1. Find the largest index j such that a[j] < a[j + 1]
for j in range(n-1, -1, -1):
if a[j] < a[j + 1]:
break
else:
return
#2. Find the largest index k greater than j such that a[j] < a[k]
v = a[j]
for k in range(n, j, -1):
if v < a[k]:
break
#3. Swap the value of a[j] with that of a[k].
a[j], a[k] = a[k], a[j]
#4. Reverse the tail of the sequence
a[j+1:] = a[j+1:][::-1]
for s in lexico_permute_string('data'):
print(s)
output
aadt
aatd
adat
adta
atad
atda
daat
data
dtaa
taad
tada
tdaa
Of course, if you want to collect the yielded strings into a list you can do
list(lexico_permute_string('data'))
or in recent Python versions:
[*lexico_permute_string('data')]

Here is another approach different from what #Adriano and #illerucis posted. This has a better runtime, you can check that yourself by measuring the time:
def removeCharFromStr(str, index):
endIndex = index if index == len(str) else index + 1
return str[:index] + str[endIndex:]
# 'ab' -> a + 'b', b + 'a'
# 'abc' -> a + bc, b + ac, c + ab
# a + cb, b + ca, c + ba
def perm(str):
if len(str) <= 1:
return {str}
permSet = set()
for i, c in enumerate(str):
newStr = removeCharFromStr(str, i)
retSet = perm(newStr)
for elem in retSet:
permSet.add(c + elem)
return permSet
For an arbitrary string "dadffddxcf" it took 1.1336 sec for the permutation library, 9.125 sec for this implementation and 16.357 secs for #Adriano's and #illerucis' version. Of course you can still optimize it.

Here's a slightly improved version of illerucis's code for returning a list of all permutations of a string s with distinct characters (not necessarily in lexicographic sort order), without using itertools:
def get_perms(s, i=0):
"""
Returns a list of all (len(s) - i)! permutations t of s where t[:i] = s[:i].
"""
# To avoid memory allocations for intermediate strings, use a list of chars.
if isinstance(s, str):
s = list(s)
# Base Case: 0! = 1! = 1.
# Store the only permutation as an immutable string, not a mutable list.
if i >= len(s) - 1:
return ["".join(s)]
# Inductive Step: (len(s) - i)! = (len(s) - i) * (len(s) - i - 1)!
# Swap in each suffix character to be at the beginning of the suffix.
perms = get_perms(s, i + 1)
for j in range(i + 1, len(s)):
s[i], s[j] = s[j], s[i]
perms.extend(get_perms(s, i + 1))
s[i], s[j] = s[j], s[i]
return perms

See itertools.combinations or itertools.permutations.

why do you not simple do:
from itertools import permutations
perms = [''.join(p) for p in permutations(['s','t','a','c','k'])]
print perms
print len(perms)
print len(set(perms))
you get no duplicate as you can see :
['stack', 'stakc', 'stcak', 'stcka', 'stkac', 'stkca', 'satck', 'satkc',
'sactk', 'sackt', 'saktc', 'sakct', 'sctak', 'sctka', 'scatk', 'scakt', 'sckta',
'sckat', 'sktac', 'sktca', 'skatc', 'skact', 'skcta', 'skcat', 'tsack',
'tsakc', 'tscak', 'tscka', 'tskac', 'tskca', 'tasck', 'taskc', 'tacsk', 'tacks',
'taksc', 'takcs', 'tcsak', 'tcska', 'tcask', 'tcaks', 'tcksa', 'tckas', 'tksac',
'tksca', 'tkasc', 'tkacs', 'tkcsa', 'tkcas', 'astck', 'astkc', 'asctk', 'asckt',
'asktc', 'askct', 'atsck', 'atskc', 'atcsk', 'atcks', 'atksc', 'atkcs', 'acstk',
'acskt', 'actsk', 'actks', 'ackst', 'ackts', 'akstc', 'aksct', 'aktsc', 'aktcs',
'akcst', 'akcts', 'cstak', 'cstka', 'csatk', 'csakt', 'cskta', 'cskat', 'ctsak',
'ctska', 'ctask', 'ctaks', 'ctksa', 'ctkas', 'castk', 'caskt', 'catsk', 'catks',
'cakst', 'cakts', 'cksta', 'cksat', 'cktsa', 'cktas', 'ckast', 'ckats', 'kstac',
'kstca', 'ksatc', 'ksact', 'kscta', 'kscat', 'ktsac', 'ktsca', 'ktasc', 'ktacs',
'ktcsa', 'ktcas', 'kastc', 'kasct', 'katsc', 'katcs', 'kacst', 'kacts', 'kcsta',
'kcsat', 'kctsa', 'kctas', 'kcast', 'kcats']
120
120
[Finished in 0.3s]

def permute(seq):
if not seq:
yield seq
else:
for i in range(len(seq)):
rest = seq[:i]+seq[i+1:]
for x in permute(rest):
yield seq[i:i+1]+x
print(list(permute('stack')))

All Possible Word with stack
from itertools import permutations
for i in permutations('stack'):
print(''.join(i))
permutations(iterable, r=None)
Return successive r length permutations of elements in the iterable.
If r is not specified or is None, then r defaults to the length of the iterable and all possible full-length permutations are generated.
Permutations are emitted in lexicographic sort order. So, if the input iterable is sorted, the permutation tuples will be produced in sorted order.
Elements are treated as unique based on their position, not on their value. So if the input elements are unique, there will be no repeat values in each permutation.

This is a recursive solution with n! which accepts duplicate elements in the string
import math
def getFactors(root,num):
sol = []
# return condition
if len(num) == 1:
return [root+num]
# looping in next iteration
for i in range(len(num)):
# Creating a substring with all remaining char but the taken in this iteration
if i > 0:
rem = num[:i]+num[i+1:]
else:
rem = num[i+1:]
# Concatenating existing solutions with the solution of this iteration
sol = sol + getFactors(root + num[i], rem)
return sol
I validated the solution taking into account two elements, the number of combinations is n! and the result can not contain duplicates. So:
inpt = "1234"
results = getFactors("",inpt)
if len(results) == math.factorial(len(inpt)) | len(results) != len(set(results)):
print("Wrong approach")
else:
print("Correct Approach")

With recursive approach.
def permute(word):
if len(word) == 1:
return [word]
permutations = permute(word[1:])
character = word[0]
result = []
for p in permutations:
for i in range(len(p)+1):
result.append(p[:i] + character + p[i:])
return result
running code.
>>> permute('abc')
['abc', 'bac', 'bca', 'acb', 'cab', 'cba']

Yet another initiative and recursive solution. The idea is to select a letter as a pivot and then create a word.
def find_premutations(alphabet):
words = []
word =''
def premute(new_word, alphabet):
if not alphabet:
words.append(word)
else:
for i in range(len(alphabet)):
premute(new_word=word + alphabet[i], alphabet=alphabet[0:i] + alphabet[i+1:])
premute(word, alphabet)
return words
# let us try it with 'abc'
a = 'abc'
find_premutations(a)
Output:
abc
acb
bac
bca
cab
cba

Here's a really simple generator version:
def find_all_permutations(s, curr=[]):
if len(s) == 0:
yield curr
else:
for i, c in enumerate(s):
for combo in find_all_permutations(s[:i]+s[i+1:], curr + [c]):
yield "".join(combo)
I think it's not so bad!

def f(s):
if len(s) == 2:
X = [s, (s[1] + s[0])]
return X
else:
list1 = []
for i in range(0, len(s)):
Y = f(s[0:i] + s[i+1: len(s)])
for j in Y:
list1.append(s[i] + j)
return list1
s = raw_input()
z = f(s)
print z

Here's a simple and straightforward recursive implementation;
def stringPermutations(s):
if len(s) < 2:
yield s
return
for pos in range(0, len(s)):
char = s[pos]
permForRemaining = list(stringPermutations(s[0:pos] + s[pos+1:]))
for perm in permForRemaining:
yield char + perm

from itertools import permutations
perms = [''.join(p) for p in permutations('ABC')]
perms = [''.join(p) for p in permutations('stack')]

def perm(string):
res=[]
for j in range(0,len(string)):
if(len(string)>1):
for i in perm(string[1:]):
res.append(string[0]+i)
else:
return [string];
string=string[1:]+string[0];
return res;
l=set(perm("abcde"))
This is one way to generate permutations with recursion, you can understand the code easily by taking strings 'a','ab' & 'abc' as input.
You get all N! permutations with this, without duplicates.

Everyone loves the smell of their own code. Just sharing the one I find the simplest:
def get_permutations(word):
if len(word) == 1:
yield word
for i, letter in enumerate(word):
for perm in get_permutations(word[:i] + word[i+1:]):
yield letter + perm

This program does not eliminate the duplicates, but I think it is one of the most efficient approaches:
s=raw_input("Enter a string: ")
print "Permutations :\n",s
size=len(s)
lis=list(range(0,size))
while(True):
k=-1
while(k>-size and lis[k-1]>lis[k]):
k-=1
if k>-size:
p=sorted(lis[k-1:])
e=p[p.index(lis[k-1])+1]
lis.insert(k-1,'A')
lis.remove(e)
lis[lis.index('A')]=e
lis[k:]=sorted(lis[k:])
list2=[]
for k in lis:
list2.append(s[k])
print "".join(list2)
else:
break

With Recursion
# swap ith and jth character of string
def swap(s, i, j):
q = list(s)
q[i], q[j] = q[j], q[i]
return ''.join(q)
# recursive function
def _permute(p, s, permutes):
if p >= len(s) - 1:
permutes.append(s)
return
for i in range(p, len(s)):
_permute(p + 1, swap(s, p, i), permutes)
# helper function
def permute(s):
permutes = []
_permute(0, s, permutes)
return permutes
# TEST IT
s = "1234"
all_permute = permute(s)
print(all_permute)
With Iterative approach (Using Stack)
# swap ith and jth character of string
def swap(s, i, j):
q = list(s)
q[i], q[j] = q[j], q[i]
return ''.join(q)
# iterative function
def permute_using_stack(s):
stk = [(0, s)]
permutes = []
while len(stk) > 0:
p, s = stk.pop(0)
if p >= len(s) - 1:
permutes.append(s)
continue
for i in range(p, len(s)):
stk.append((p + 1, swap(s, p, i)))
return permutes
# TEST IT
s = "1234"
all_permute = permute_using_stack(s)
print(all_permute)
With Lexicographically sorted
# swap ith and jth character of string
def swap(s, i, j):
q = list(s)
q[i], q[j] = q[j], q[i]
return ''.join(q)
# finds next lexicographic string if exist otherwise returns -1
def next_lexicographical(s):
for i in range(len(s) - 2, -1, -1):
if s[i] < s[i + 1]:
m = s[i + 1]
swap_pos = i + 1
for j in range(i + 1, len(s)):
if m > s[j] > s[i]:
m = s[j]
swap_pos = j
if swap_pos != -1:
s = swap(s, i, swap_pos)
s = s[:i + 1] + ''.join(sorted(s[i + 1:]))
return s
return -1
# helper function
def permute_lexicographically(s):
s = ''.join(sorted(s))
permutes = []
while True:
permutes.append(s)
s = next_lexicographical(s)
if s == -1:
break
return permutes
# TEST IT
s = "1234"
all_permute = permute_lexicographically(s)
print(all_permute)

This code makes sense to me. The logic is to loop through all characters, extract the ith character, perform the permutation on the other elements and append the ith character at the beginning.
If i'm asked to get all permutations manually for string ABC. I would start by checking all combinations of element A:
A AB
A BC
Then all combinations of element B:
B AC
B CA
Then all combinations of element C:
C AB
C BA
def permute(s: str):
n = len(s)
if n == 1: return [s]
if n == 2:
return [s[0]+s[1], s[1]+s[0]]
permutations = []
for i in range(0, n):
current = s[i]
others = s[:i] + s[i+1:]
otherPermutations = permute(others)
for op in otherPermutations:
permutations.append(current + op)
return permutations

Simpler solution using permutations.
from itertools import permutations
def stringPermutate(s1):
length=len(s1)
if length < 2:
return s1
perm = [''.join(p) for p in permutations(s1)]
return set(perm)

def permute_all_chars(list, begin, end):
if (begin == end):
print(list)
return
for current_position in range(begin, end + 1):
list[begin], list[current_position] = list[current_position], list[begin]
permute_all_chars(list, begin + 1, end)
list[begin], list[current_position] = list[current_position], list[begin]
given_str = 'ABC'
list = []
for char in given_str:
list.append(char)
permute_all_chars(list, 0, len(list) -1)

The itertools module in the standard library has a function for this which is simply called permutations.
import itertools
def minion_game(s):
vow ="aeiou"
lsword=[]
ta=[]
for a in range(1,len(s)+1):
t=list(itertools.permutations(s,a))
lsword.append(t)
for i in range(0,len(lsword)):
for xa in lsword[i]:
if vow.startswith(xa):
ta.append("".join(xa))
print(ta)
minion_game("banana")