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

Question

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

Answer 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}