Here's some simple code that prints all the C(n,m) combinations. It works by initializing and moving a set of array indices that point to next valid combination. The indices are initialized to point to the lowest m indices (lexicographically the smallest combination). Then on, starting with the m-th index, we try to move the indices forward. if an index has reached its limit, we try the previous index (all the way down to index 1). If we can move an index forward, then we reset all greater indices.

m=(rand()%n)+1; // m will vary from 1 to n

for (i=0;i<n;i++) a[i]=i+1;

// we want to print all possible C(n,m) combinations of selecting m objects out of n
printf("Printing C(%d,%d) possible combinations ...\n", n,m);

// This is an adhoc algo that keeps m pointers to the next valid combination
for (i=0;i<m;i++) p[i]=i; // the p[.] contain indices to the a vector whose elements constitute next combination

done=false;
while (!done)
{
    // print combination
    for (i=0;i<m;i++) printf("%2d ", a[p[i]]);
    printf("\n");

    // update combination
    // method: start with p[m-1]. try to increment it. if it is already at the end, then try moving p[m-2] ahead.
    // if this is possible, then reset p[m-1] to 1 more than (the new) p[m-2].
    // if p[m-2] can not also be moved, then try p[m-3]. move that ahead. then reset p[m-2] and p[m-1].
    // repeat all the way down to p[0]. if p[0] can not also be moved, then we have generated all combinations.
    j=m-1;
    i=1;
    move_found=false;
    while ((j>=0) && !move_found)
    {
        if (p[j]<(n-i)) 
        {
            move_found=true;
            p[j]++; // point p[j] to next index
            for (k=j+1;k<m;k++)
            {
                p[k]=p[j]+(k-j);
            }
        }
        else
        {
            j--;
            i++;
        }
    }
    if (!move_found) done=true;
}

如果你可以使用SQL语法——比如，如果你使用LINQ访问一个结构或数组的字段，或者直接访问一个数据库，其中有一个名为“Alphabet”的表，只有一个字符字段“Letter”，你可以适应以下代码:

SELECT A.Letter, B.Letter, C.Letter
FROM Alphabet AS A, Alphabet AS B, Alphabet AS C
WHERE A.Letter<>B.Letter AND A.Letter<>C.Letter AND B.Letter<>C.Letter
AND A.Letter<B.Letter AND B.Letter<C.Letter

这将返回所有3个字母的组合，不管你在表格“字母表”中有多少个字母(它可以是3,8,10,27等)。

如果你想要的是所有的排列，而不是组合(也就是说，你想要“ACB”和“ABC”被视为不同的，而不是只出现一次)，只需删除最后一行(and一行)，就完成了。

Post-Edit:重新阅读问题后，我意识到需要的是通用算法，而不仅仅是选择3个项目的特定算法。Adam Hughes的答案是完整的，不幸的是我还不能投票。这个答案很简单，但只适用于你想要三样东西的时候。

我想提出我的解决方案。在next中没有递归调用，也没有嵌套循环。 代码的核心是next()方法。

public class Combinations {
    final int pos[];
    final List<Object> set;

    public Combinations(List<?> l, int k) {
        pos = new int[k];
        set=new ArrayList<Object>(l);
        reset();
    }
    public void reset() {
        for (int i=0; i < pos.length; ++i) pos[i]=i;
    }
    public boolean next() {
        int i = pos.length-1;
        for (int maxpos = set.size()-1; pos[i] >= maxpos; --maxpos) {
            if (i==0) return false;
            --i;
        }
        ++pos[i];
        while (++i < pos.length)
            pos[i]=pos[i-1]+1;
        return true;
    }

    public void getSelection(List<?> l) {
        @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
        List<Object> ll = (List<Object>)l;
        if (ll.size()!=pos.length) {
            ll.clear();
            for (int i=0; i < pos.length; ++i)
                ll.add(set.get(pos[i]));
        }
        else {
            for (int i=0; i < pos.length; ++i)
                ll.set(i, set.get(pos[i]));
        }
    }
}

用法示例:

static void main(String[] args) {
    List<Character> l = new ArrayList<Character>();
    for (int i=0; i < 32; ++i) l.add((char)('a'+i));
    Combinations comb = new Combinations(l,5);
    int n=0;
    do {
        ++n;
        comb.getSelection(l);
        //Log.debug("%d: %s", n, l.toString());
    } while (comb.next());
    Log.debug("num = %d", n);
}

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]]

这是一个优雅的Scala通用实现，如99个Scala问题所述。

object P26 {
  def flatMapSublists[A,B](ls: List[A])(f: (List[A]) => List[B]): List[B] = 
    ls match {
      case Nil => Nil
      case sublist@(_ :: tail) => f(sublist) ::: flatMapSublists(tail)(f)
    }

  def combinations[A](n: Int, ls: List[A]): List[List[A]] =
    if (n == 0) List(Nil)
    else flatMapSublists(ls) { sl =>
      combinations(n - 1, sl.tail) map {sl.head :: _}
    }
}

这个答案怎么样……这将打印所有长度为3的组合…它可以推广到任何长度… 工作代码…

#include<iostream>
#include<string>
using namespace std;

void combination(string a,string dest){
int l = dest.length();
if(a.empty() && l  == 3 ){
 cout<<dest<<endl;}
else{
  if(!a.empty() && dest.length() < 3 ){
     combination(a.substr(1,a.length()),dest+a[0]);}
  if(!a.empty() && dest.length() <= 3 ){
      combination(a.substr(1,a.length()),dest);}
 }

 }

 int main(){
 string demo("abcd");
 combination(demo,"");
 return 0;
 }