现在又出现了祖辈COBOL，一种饱受诟病的语言。

让我们假设一个包含34个元素的数组，每个元素8个字节(完全是任意选择)。其思想是枚举所有可能的4元素组合，并将它们加载到一个数组中。

我们使用4个指标，每个指标代表4个组中的每个位置

数组是这样处理的:

    idx1 = 1
    idx2 = 2
    idx3 = 3
    idx4 = 4

我们把idx4从4变到最后。对于每个idx4，我们得到一个唯一的组合 四人一组。当idx4到达数组的末尾时，我们将idx3增加1，并将idx4设置为idx3+1。然后再次运行idx4到最后。我们以这种方式继续，分别增加idx3、idx2和idx1，直到idx1的位置距离数组末端小于4。算法就完成了。

1          --- pos.1
2          --- pos 2
3          --- pos 3
4          --- pos 4
5
6
7
etc.

第一次迭代:

1234
1235
1236
1237
1245
1246
1247
1256
1257
1267
etc.

一个COBOL的例子:

01  DATA_ARAY.
    05  FILLER     PIC X(8)    VALUE  "VALUE_01".
    05  FILLER     PIC X(8)    VALUE  "VALUE_02".
  etc.
01  ARAY_DATA    OCCURS 34.
    05  ARAY_ITEM       PIC X(8).

01  OUTPUT_ARAY   OCCURS  50000   PIC X(32).

01   MAX_NUM   PIC 99 COMP VALUE 34.

01  INDEXXES  COMP.
    05  IDX1            PIC 99.
    05  IDX2            PIC 99.
    05  IDX3            PIC 99.
    05  IDX4            PIC 99.
    05  OUT_IDX   PIC 9(9).

01  WHERE_TO_STOP_SEARCH          PIC 99  COMP.

* Stop the search when IDX1 is on the third last array element:

COMPUTE WHERE_TO_STOP_SEARCH = MAX_VALUE - 3     

MOVE 1 TO IDX1

PERFORM UNTIL IDX1 > WHERE_TO_STOP_SEARCH
   COMPUTE IDX2 = IDX1 + 1
   PERFORM UNTIL IDX2 > MAX_NUM
      COMPUTE IDX3 = IDX2 + 1
      PERFORM UNTIL IDX3 > MAX_NUM
         COMPUTE IDX4 = IDX3 + 1
         PERFORM UNTIL IDX4 > MAX_NUM
            ADD 1 TO OUT_IDX
            STRING  ARAY_ITEM(IDX1)
                    ARAY_ITEM(IDX2)
                    ARAY_ITEM(IDX3)
                    ARAY_ITEM(IDX4)
                    INTO OUTPUT_ARAY(OUT_IDX)
            ADD 1 TO IDX4
         END-PERFORM
         ADD 1 TO IDX3
      END-PERFORM
      ADD 1 TO IDX2
   END_PERFORM
   ADD 1 TO IDX1
END-PERFORM.

这是我对javascript的贡献(没有递归)

set = ["q0", "q1", "q2", "q3"]
collector = []


function comb(num) {
  results = []
  one_comb = []
  for (i = set.length - 1; i >= 0; --i) {
    tmp = Math.pow(2, i)
    quotient = parseInt(num / tmp)
    results.push(quotient)
    num = num % tmp
  }
  k = 0
  for (i = 0; i < results.length; ++i)
    if (results[i]) {
      ++k
      one_comb.push(set[i])
    }
  if (collector[k] == undefined)
    collector[k] = []
  collector[k].push(one_comb)
}


sum = 0
for (i = 0; i < set.length; ++i)
  sum += Math.pow(2, i)
 for (ii = sum; ii > 0; --ii)
  comb(ii)
 cnt = 0
for (i = 1; i < collector.length; ++i) {
  n = 0
  for (j = 0; j < collector[i].length; ++j)
    document.write(++cnt, " - " + (++n) + " - ", collector[i][j], "<br>")
  document.write("<hr>")
}   

假设你的字母数组是这样的:"ABCDEFGH"。你有三个下标(i, j, k)来表示你要用哪个字母来表示当前单词。

A B C D E F G H
^ ^ ^
i j k

首先你改变k，所以下一步看起来像这样:

A B C D E F G H
^ ^   ^
i j   k

如果你到达终点，你继续改变j和k。

A B C D E F G H
^   ^ ^
i   j k

A B C D E F G H
^   ^   ^
i   j   k

一旦j达到G, i也开始变化。

A B C D E F G H
  ^ ^ ^
  i j k

A B C D E F G H
  ^ ^   ^
  i j   k
...

用代码写出来是这样的

void print_combinations(const char *string)
{
    int i, j, k;
    int len = strlen(string);

    for (i = 0; i < len - 2; i++)
    {
        for (j = i + 1; j < len - 1; j++)
        {
            for (k = j + 1; k < len; k++)
                printf("%c%c%c\n", string[i], string[j], string[k]);
        }
    }
}

为此，我在SQL Server 2005中创建了一个解决方案，并将其发布在我的网站上:http://www.jessemclain.com/downloads/code/sql/fn_GetMChooseNCombos.sql.htm

下面是一个例子来说明用法:

SELECT * FROM dbo.fn_GetMChooseNCombos('ABCD', 2, '')

结果:

Word
----
AB
AC
AD
BC
BD
CD

(6 row(s) affected)

Python中的简短示例:

def comb(sofar, rest, n):
    if n == 0:
        print sofar
    else:
        for i in range(len(rest)):
            comb(sofar + rest[i], rest[i+1:], n-1)

>>> comb("", "abcde", 3)
abc
abd
abe
acd
ace
ade
bcd
bce
bde
cde

为了解释，递归方法用下面的例子描述:

示例:A B C D E 3的所有组合是:

A与其余2的所有组合(B C D E) B与其余2的所有组合(C D E) C与其余2的所有组合(D E)

#include <stdio.h>

unsigned int next_combination(unsigned int *ar, size_t n, unsigned int k)
{
    unsigned int finished = 0;
    unsigned int changed = 0;
    unsigned int i;

    if (k > 0) {
        for (i = k - 1; !finished && !changed; i--) {
            if (ar[i] < (n - 1) - (k - 1) + i) {
                /* Increment this element */
                ar[i]++;
                if (i < k - 1) {
                    /* Turn the elements after it into a linear sequence */
                    unsigned int j;
                    for (j = i + 1; j < k; j++) {
                        ar[j] = ar[j - 1] + 1;
                    }
                }
                changed = 1;
            }
            finished = i == 0;
        }
        if (!changed) {
            /* Reset to first combination */
            for (i = 0; i < k; i++) {
                ar[i] = i;
            }
        }
    }
    return changed;
}

typedef void(*printfn)(const void *, FILE *);

void print_set(const unsigned int *ar, size_t len, const void **elements,
    const char *brackets, printfn print, FILE *fptr)
{
    unsigned int i;
    fputc(brackets[0], fptr);
    for (i = 0; i < len; i++) {
        print(elements[ar[i]], fptr);
        if (i < len - 1) {
            fputs(", ", fptr);
        }
    }
    fputc(brackets[1], fptr);
}

int main(void)
{
    unsigned int numbers[] = { 0, 1, 2 };
    char *elements[] = { "a", "b", "c", "d", "e" };
    const unsigned int k = sizeof(numbers) / sizeof(unsigned int);
    const unsigned int n = sizeof(elements) / sizeof(const char*);

    do {
        print_set(numbers, k, (void*)elements, "[]", (printfn)fputs, stdout);
        putchar('\n');
    } while (next_combination(numbers, n, k));
    getchar();
    return 0;
}