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)

#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;
}

另一个具有组合索引惰性生成的c#版本。这个版本维护了一个索引数组来定义所有值列表和当前组合值之间的映射，即在整个运行时不断使用O(k)额外的空间。该代码在O(k)时间内生成单个组合，包括第一个组合。

public static IEnumerable<T[]> Combinations<T>(this T[] values, int k)
{
    if (k < 0 || values.Length < k)
        yield break; // invalid parameters, no combinations possible

    // generate the initial combination indices
    var combIndices = new int[k];
    for (var i = 0; i < k; i++)
    {
        combIndices[i] = i;
    }

    while (true)
    {
        // return next combination
        var combination = new T[k];
        for (var i = 0; i < k; i++)
        {
            combination[i] = values[combIndices[i]];
        }
        yield return combination;

        // find first index to update
        var indexToUpdate = k - 1;
        while (indexToUpdate >= 0 && combIndices[indexToUpdate] >= values.Length - k + indexToUpdate)
        {
            indexToUpdate--;
        }

        if (indexToUpdate < 0)
            yield break; // done

        // update combination indices
        for (var combIndex = combIndices[indexToUpdate] + 1; indexToUpdate < k; indexToUpdate++, combIndex++)
        {
            combIndices[indexToUpdate] = combIndex;
        }
    }
}

测试代码:

foreach (var combination in new[] {'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'}.Combinations(3))
{
    System.Console.WriteLine(String.Join(" ", combination));
}

输出:

a b c
a b d
a b e
a c d
a c e
a d e
b c d
b c e
b d e
c d e

基于java解决方案的短php算法返回k元素从n(二项式系数)的所有组合:

$array = array(1,2,3,4,5);

$array_result = NULL;

$array_general = NULL;

function combinations($array, $len, $start_position, $result_array, $result_len, &$general_array)
{
    if($len == 0)
    {
        $general_array[] = $result_array;
        return;
    }

    for ($i = $start_position; $i <= count($array) - $len; $i++)
    {
        $result_array[$result_len - $len] = $array[$i];
        combinations($array, $len-1, $i+1, $result_array, $result_len, $general_array);
    }
} 

combinations($array, 3, 0, $array_result, 3, $array_general);

echo "<pre>";
print_r($array_general);
echo "</pre>";

相同的解决方案，但在javascript:

var newArray = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
var arrayResult = [];
var arrayGeneral = [];

function combinations(newArray, len, startPosition, resultArray, resultLen, arrayGeneral) {
    if(len === 0) {
        var tempArray = [];
        resultArray.forEach(value => tempArray.push(value));
        arrayGeneral.push(tempArray);
        return;
    }
    for (var i = startPosition; i <= newArray.length - len; i++) {
        resultArray[resultLen - len] = newArray[i];
        combinations(newArray, len-1, i+1, resultArray, resultLen, arrayGeneral);
    }
} 

combinations(newArray, 3, 0, arrayResult, 3, arrayGeneral);

console.log(arrayGeneral);

我可以给出这个问题的递归Python解决方案吗?

def choose_iter(elements, length):
    for i in xrange(len(elements)):
        if length == 1:
            yield (elements[i],)
        else:
            for next in choose_iter(elements[i+1:], length-1):
                yield (elements[i],) + next
def choose(l, k):
    return list(choose_iter(l, k))

使用示例:

>>> len(list(choose_iter("abcdefgh",3)))
56

我喜欢它的简洁。

另一种python递归解决方案。

def combination_indicies(n, k, j = 0, stack = []):   
    if len(stack) == k:            
        yield list(stack)
        return
        
    for i in range(j, n):
        stack.append(i)
        for x in combination_indicies(n, k, i + 1, stack):            
            yield x
        stack.pop()  
        
list(combination_indicies(5, 3))

输出:

[[0, 1, 2],
 [0, 1, 3],
 [0, 1, 4],
 [0, 2, 3],
 [0, 2, 4],
 [0, 3, 4],
 [1, 2, 3],
 [1, 2, 4],
 [1, 3, 4],
 [2, 3, 4]]