递归是不必要的，甚至你可以直接计算任何排列，这个解决方案使用泛型来排列任何数组。

这里有关于这个algorihtm的很好的信息。

对于c#开发人员来说，这里有更有用的实现。

public static void main(String[] args) {
    String word = "12345";

    Character[] array = ArrayUtils.toObject(word.toCharArray());
    long[] factorials = Permutation.getFactorials(array.length + 1);

    for (long i = 0; i < factorials[array.length]; i++) {
        Character[] permutation = Permutation.<Character>getPermutation(i, array, factorials);
        printPermutation(permutation);
    }
}

private static void printPermutation(Character[] permutation) {
    for (int i = 0; i < permutation.length; i++) {
        System.out.print(permutation[i]);
    }
    System.out.println();
}

该算法计算每个排列的时间和空间复杂度为O(N)。

public class Permutation {
    public static <T> T[] getPermutation(long permutationNumber, T[] array, long[] factorials) {
        int[] sequence = generateSequence(permutationNumber, array.length - 1, factorials);
        T[] permutation = generatePermutation(array, sequence);

        return permutation;
    }

    public static <T> T[] generatePermutation(T[] array, int[] sequence) {
        T[] clone = array.clone();

        for (int i = 0; i < clone.length - 1; i++) {
            swap(clone, i, i + sequence[i]);
        }

        return clone;
    }

    private static int[] generateSequence(long permutationNumber, int size, long[] factorials) {
        int[] sequence = new int[size];

        for (int j = 0; j < sequence.length; j++) {
            long factorial = factorials[sequence.length - j];
            sequence[j] = (int) (permutationNumber / factorial);
            permutationNumber = (int) (permutationNumber % factorial);
        }

        return sequence;
    }

    private static <T> void swap(T[] array, int i, int j) {
        T t = array[i];
        array[i] = array[j];
        array[j] = t;
    }

    public static long[] getFactorials(int length) {
        long[] factorials = new long[length];
        long factor = 1;

        for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) {
            factor *= i <= 1 ? 1 : i;
            factorials[i] = factor;
        }

        return factorials;
    }
}

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;
    }
}
}

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
    }
}

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);
            }
        }

下面是一个java实现:

/* All Permutations of a String */

import java.util.*;
import java.lang.*;
import java.io.*;

/* Complexity O(n*n!) */
class Ideone
{
     public static ArrayList<String> strPerm(String str, ArrayList<String> list)
     {
        int len = str.length();
        if(len==1){
            list.add(str);
            return list;
        }

        list = strPerm(str.substring(0,len-1),list);
        int ls = list.size();
        char ap = str.charAt(len-1);
        for(int i=0;i<ls;i++){
            String temp = list.get(i);
            int tl = temp.length();
            for(int j=0;j<=tl;j++){
                list.add(temp.substring(0,j)+ap+temp.substring(j,tl));  
            }
        }

        while(true){
            String temp = list.get(0);
            if(temp.length()<len)
                list.remove(temp);
            else
                break;
        }

        return list;
    }

    public static void main (String[] args) throws java.lang.Exception
    {
        String str = "abc";
        ArrayList<String> list = new ArrayList<>();

        list = strPerm(str,list);
        System.out.println("Total Permutations : "+list.size());
        for(int i=0;i<list.size();i++)
            System.out.println(list.get(i));

    }
}

http://ideone.com/nWPb3k

这对我很有效。

import java.util.Arrays;

public class StringPermutations{
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        String inputString = "ABC";
        permute(inputString.toCharArray(), 0, inputString.length()-1);
    }

    public static void permute(char[] ary, int startIndex, int endIndex) {
        if(startIndex == endIndex){
            System.out.println(String.valueOf(ary));
        }else{
            for(int i=startIndex;i<=endIndex;i++) {
                 swap(ary, startIndex, i );
                 permute(ary, startIndex+1, endIndex);
                 swap(ary, startIndex, i );
            }
        }
    }

    public static void swap(char[] ary, int x, int y) {
        char temp = ary[x];
        ary[x] = ary[y];
        ary[y] = temp;
    }
}