我们可以用阶乘来计算有多少字符串以某个字母开头。

示例:取输入abcd。(3!) == 6个字符串将以abcd中的每个字母开头。

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
    }
}

一个java实现打印给定字符串的所有排列，考虑重复字符，只打印唯一字符，如下所示:

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);
        }
    }
}
}

使用递归。

当输入是空字符串时，唯一的排列就是空字符串。尝试将字符串中的每个字母作为第一个字母，然后使用递归调用找到其余字母的所有排列。

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);
        }
    }
}

另一种简单的方法是遍历字符串，选择尚未使用的字符并将其放入缓冲区，继续循环，直到缓冲区大小等于字符串长度。我更喜欢这个回溯跟踪解决方案，因为:

容易理解 容易避免重复 输出是排序的

下面是java代码:

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;
    }
  }
}

str输入:1231

输出列表:{1123,1132,1213,1231,1312,1321,2113,2131,2311,3112,3121,3211}

注意，输出是排序的，没有重复的结果。

下面是两个c#版本(仅供参考): 1. 打印所有排列 2. 返回所有排列

算法的基本要点是(可能下面的代码更直观-尽管如此，下面的代码是做什么的一些解释): -从当前索引到集合的其余部分，交换当前索引处的元素 -递归地获得下一个索引中剩余元素的排列 -恢复秩序，通过重新交换

注意:上述递归函数将从起始索引中调用。

private void PrintAllPermutations(int[] a, int index, ref int count)
        {
            if (index == (a.Length - 1))
            {
                count++;
                var s = string.Format("{0}: {1}", count, string.Join(",", a));
                Debug.WriteLine(s);
            }
            for (int i = index; i < a.Length; i++)
            {
                Utilities.swap(ref a[i], ref a[index]);
                this.PrintAllPermutations(a, index + 1, ref count);
                Utilities.swap(ref a[i], ref a[index]);
            }
        }
        private int PrintAllPermutations(int[] a)
        {
            a.ThrowIfNull("a");
            int count = 0;
            this.PrintAllPermutations(a, index:0, count: ref count);
            return count;
        }

版本2(与上面相同-但返回排列而不是打印)

private int[][] GetAllPermutations(int[] a, int index)
        {
            List<int[]> permutations = new List<int[]>();
            if (index == (a.Length - 1))
            {
                permutations.Add(a.ToArray());
            }

            for (int i = index; i < a.Length; i++)
            {
                Utilities.swap(ref a[i], ref a[index]);
                var r = this.GetAllPermutations(a, index + 1);
                permutations.AddRange(r);
                Utilities.swap(ref a[i], ref a[index]);
            }
            return permutations.ToArray();
        }
        private int[][] GetAllPermutations(int[] p)
        {
            p.ThrowIfNull("p");
            return this.GetAllPermutations(p, 0);
        }

单元测试

[TestMethod]
        public void PermutationsTests()
        {
            List<int> input = new List<int>();
            int[] output = { 0, 1, 2, 6, 24, 120 };
            for (int i = 0; i <= 5; i++)
            {
                if (i != 0)
                {
                    input.Add(i);
                }
                Debug.WriteLine("================PrintAllPermutations===================");
                int count = this.PrintAllPermutations(input.ToArray());
                Assert.IsTrue(count == output[i]);
                Debug.WriteLine("=====================GetAllPermutations=================");
                var r = this.GetAllPermutations(input.ToArray());
                Assert.IsTrue(count == r.Length);
                for (int j = 1; j <= r.Length;j++ )
                {
                    string s = string.Format("{0}: {1}", j,
                        string.Join(",", r[j - 1]));
                    Debug.WriteLine(s);
                }
                Debug.WriteLine("No.OfElements: {0}, TotalPerms: {1}", i, count);
            }
        }

使用递归的简单python解决方案。

def get_permutations(string):

    # base case
    if len(string) <= 1:
        return set([string])

    all_chars_except_last = string[:-1]
    last_char = string[-1]

    # recursive call: get all possible permutations for all chars except last
    permutations_of_all_chars_except_last = get_permutations(all_chars_except_last)

    # put the last char in all possible positions for each of the above permutations
    permutations = set()
    for permutation_of_all_chars_except_last in permutations_of_all_chars_except_last:
        for position in range(len(all_chars_except_last) + 1):
            permutation = permutation_of_all_chars_except_last[:position] + last_char + permutation_of_all_chars_except_last[position:]
            permutations.add(permutation)

    return permutations