我一直在学习递归思考，第一个打动我的自然解决方案如下。一个更简单的问题是找到一个短一个字母的字符串的排列。我将假设，并相信我的每一根纤维，我的函数可以正确地找到一个字符串的排列，比我目前正在尝试的字符串短一个字母。

Given a string say 'abc', break it into a subproblem of finding permutations of a string one character less which is 'bc'. Once we have permutations of 'bc' we need to know how to combine it with 'a' to get the permutations for 'abc'. This is the core of recursion. Use the solution of a subproblem to solve the current problem. By observation, we can see that inserting 'a' in all the positions of each of the permutations of 'bc' which are 'bc' and 'cb' will give us all the permutations of 'abc'. We have to insert 'a' between adjacent letters and at the front and end of each permutation. For example

我们有bc

“a”+“bc”=“abc”

“b”+“a”+“c”=“bac”

“b”+“a”=“b”

对于'cb'我们有

a + b = acb

“c”+“a”+“b”=“cab”

“cb”+“a”=“cb”

下面的代码片段将说明这一点。下面是该代码片段的工作链接。

def main():
    result = []
    for permutation in ['bc', 'cb']:
        for i in range(len(permutation) + 1):
            result.append(permutation[:i] + 'a' + permutation[i:])
    return result


if __name__ == '__main__':
    print(main())

完整的递归解将是。下面是完整代码的工作链接。

def permutations(s):
    if len(s) == 1 or len(s) == 0:
        return s
    _permutations = []
    for permutation in permutations(s[1:]):
        for i in range(len(permutation) + 1):
            _permutations.append(permutation[:i] + s[0] + permutation[i:])
    return _permutations


def main(s):
    print(permutations(s))


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main('abc')

我的实现基于Mark Byers上面的描述:

    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;
        }
    }

让我们以输入abc为例。

从集合(["c"])中的最后一个元素(c)开始，然后将最后第二个元素(b)添加到它的前面，末尾和中间的每个可能位置，使其["bc"， "cb"]，然后以同样的方式将后面的下一个元素(a)添加到集合中的每个字符串中，使其:

"a" + "bc" = ["abc", "bac", "bca"]  and  "a" + "cb" = ["acb" ,"cab", "cba"] 

因此整个排列:

["abc", "bac", "bca","acb" ,"cab", "cba"]

代码:

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());
        }
    }
}

其中一个简单的解决方案是使用两个指针继续递归地交换字符。

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;
    }
}
}

使用递归。

依次尝试每个字母作为第一个字母，然后使用递归调用找到剩余字母的所有排列。 基本情况是，当输入是空字符串时，唯一的排列就是空字符串。

简单的解决方案，利用swift语言的特点，数组是值类型。

func permutation(chrs: [String], arr: [String], result: inout [[String]]) {
   if arr.count == chrs.count {
       result.append(arr)
       return
   }

   for chr in chrs {
       var arr = arr
       if !arr.contains(chr) {
           arr.append(chr)
           permutation(chrs: chrs, arr: arr, result: &result)
       }
   }
}

func test() {
   var result = [[String]]()
   let chrs = ["a", "b", "c", "d"]
   permutation(chrs: chrs, arr: [], result: &result)
}

复杂度O(n * n!)