Permutation/combination problem

gypmaster

Hi,

I've got an input text file that looks something like this:

Angola, brazil, argentina
South Africa, china, japan

(in this case it's countries, 3 per line and 2 lines but, in reality, it could be anything)

which I need to read in and then output an 'entry' for every possible combination of each country on each line e.g.

Angola, south africa
Angola, china
angola, japan

brazil, south africa
brazil, china
brazil, japan

argentina, south africa
argentina, china
argentina, japan

so each country/element needs to appear with every other country EXCEPT those that appear in the same line ... (so ... Angola, brazil and argentina should never appear in the same output combination, same goes for the south africa, china and japan) ... the number of elements on each line and the number of lines input can vary and I won't necessarily know beforehand either how many lines there are or how many elements there are in each line.

anyone help?

leatherback

Hi,

Have a look at this:



function print_recursive($array1, $array2=array(), $start=0)
  {
  if($start == 0)
    {
	$duplo = $array1;
	$firstone = array_shift($duplo);
	print_recursive($array1, $duplo, 1);
	}
  else
    {
	foreach($array1 as $firstvals)
	  {
	  foreach($array2 as $array2val)
	    {
	    if(is_array($array2val))
	      {
		  print_recursive($array1, $array2val, 1);
		  }
		else
		  {
		  foreach($firstvals as $val)
		    {
			echo $val.' '.$array2val.'<br />';
			}
		  }
		}
	  }
	}
  }

$a = array(
  0=>array(0=>1, 1=>2, 2=>3),
  1=>array(0=>4, 1=>5, 2=>6),
  2=>array(0=>7, 1=>8, 2=>9));

print_recursive($a);

gypmaster

Hi Leatherback,

Thanks for your reply.

Here's what I tried ...

<?php
function print_recursive($array1, $array2=array(), $start=0)
  {
  if($start == 0)
    {
    $duplo = $array1;
    $firstone = array_shift($duplo);
    print_recursive($array1, $duplo, 1);
    }
  else
    {
    foreach($array1 as $firstvals)
      {
      foreach($array2 as $array2val)
        {
        if(is_array($array2val))
          {
          print_recursive($array1, $array2val, 1);
          }
        else
          {
          foreach($firstvals as $val)
            {
            echo $val.' '.$array2val.'<br />';
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }

$a = array(
  0=>array(0=>"ZAM", 1=>"BRA", 2=>"PER"),
  1=>array(0=>"SAF", 1=>"JPN"),
  2=>array(0=>"USA", 1=>"CAN", 2=>"BOL")
);

print_recursive($a); 

?>

Tried the above and would have excpected (if the logic worked as I envisaged) only 18 outputs of 3 'elements' each ... e.g. 3 in first array x 2 in second array x 3 in third array

ZAM SAF USA
ZAM SAF CAN
ZAM SAF BOL

ZAM JPN USA
ZAM JPN CAN
ZAM JPN BOL

BRA SAF USA
BRA SAF CAN
BRA SAF BOL

BRA JPN USA
BRA JPN CAN
BRA JPN BOL

PER SAF USA
PER SAF CAN
PER SAF BOL

PER JPN USA
PER JPN CAN
PER JPN BOL

but it actually produced:

ZAM SAF
BRA SAF
PER SAF
ZAM JPN
BRA JPN
PER JPN
SAF SAF
JPN SAF
SAF JPN
JPN JPN
USA SAF
CAN SAF
BOL SAF
USA JPN
CAN JPN
BOL JPN
ZAM USA
BRA USA
PER USA
ZAM CAN
BRA CAN
PER CAN
ZAM BOL
BRA BOL
PER BOL
SAF USA
JPN USA
SAF CAN
JPN CAN
SAF BOL
JPN BOL
USA USA
CAN USA
BOL USA
USA CAN
CAN CAN
BOL CAN
USA BOL
CAN BOL
BOL BOL
ZAM SAF
BRA SAF
PER SAF
ZAM JPN
BRA JPN
PER JPN
SAF SAF
JPN SAF
SAF JPN
JPN JPN
USA SAF
CAN SAF
BOL SAF
USA JPN
CAN JPN
BOL JPN
ZAM USA
BRA USA
PER USA
ZAM CAN
BRA CAN
PER CAN
ZAM BOL
BRA BOL
PER BOL
SAF USA
JPN USA
SAF CAN
JPN CAN
SAF BOL
JPN BOL
USA USA
CAN USA
BOL USA
USA CAN
CAN CAN
BOL CAN
USA BOL
CAN BOL
BOL BOL
ZAM SAF
BRA SAF
PER SAF
ZAM JPN
BRA JPN
PER JPN
SAF SAF
JPN SAF
SAF JPN
JPN JPN
USA SAF
CAN SAF
BOL SAF
USA JPN
CAN JPN
BOL JPN
ZAM USA
BRA USA
PER USA
ZAM CAN
BRA CAN
PER CAN
ZAM BOL
BRA BOL
PER BOL
SAF USA
JPN USA
SAF CAN
JPN CAN
SAF BOL
JPN BOL
USA USA
CAN USA
BOL USA
USA CAN
CAN CAN
BOL CAN
USA BOL
CAN BOL
BOL BOL

I'd really appreciate an explanation of the code ...

thanks in advance..

leatherback

hm.. is this more like what you are looking for?


function print_me($array, $string='')
  {
  foreach($array as $listvals)
    {
	foreach($listvals as $val)
	  {
	  $printstring = $string.$val;
	  if(count($array) > 1)
        {
        $duplo = $array;
        $t     = array_shift($duplo);
	    print_me($duplo, $printstring);
	    }
	  else
	    {
	    echo $printstring.'<br />';
	    }
	  }
	}
  }



$a = array(
  0=>array(0=>'a', 1=>'b', 2=>'c'),
  1=>array(0=>'d', 1=>'e', 2=>'e'),
  2=>array(0=>'f', 1=>'g', 2=>'h'));

print_me($a);

gypmaster

Leatherjacket,

getting closer to what I need 🙂

now it's producing this:

ZAMSAFUSA
ZAMSAFCAN
ZAMSAFBOL
ZAMJPNUSA
ZAMJPNCAN
ZAMJPNBOL
ZAMUSAUSA
ZAMUSACAN
ZAMUSABOL
ZAMCANUSA
ZAMCANCAN
ZAMCANBOL
ZAMBOLUSA
ZAMBOLCAN
ZAMBOLBOL
BRASAFUSA
BRASAFCAN
BRASAFBOL
BRAJPNUSA
BRAJPNCAN
BRAJPNBOL
BRAUSAUSA
BRAUSACAN
BRAUSABOL
BRACANUSA
BRACANCAN
BRACANBOL
BRABOLUSA
BRABOLCAN
BRABOLBOL
PERSAFUSA
PERSAFCAN
PERSAFBOL
PERJPNUSA
PERJPNCAN
PERJPNBOL
PERUSAUSA
PERUSACAN
PERUSABOL
PERCANUSA
PERCANCAN
PERCANBOL
PERBOLUSA
PERBOLCAN
PERBOLBOL
SAFSAFUSA
SAFSAFCAN
SAFSAFBOL
SAFJPNUSA
SAFJPNCAN
SAFJPNBOL
SAFUSAUSA
SAFUSACAN
SAFUSABOL
SAFCANUSA
SAFCANCAN
SAFCANBOL
SAFBOLUSA
SAFBOLCAN
SAFBOLBOL
JPNSAFUSA
JPNSAFCAN
JPNSAFBOL
JPNJPNUSA
JPNJPNCAN
JPNJPNBOL
JPNUSAUSA
JPNUSACAN
JPNUSABOL
JPNCANUSA
JPNCANCAN
JPNCANBOL
JPNBOLUSA
JPNBOLCAN
JPNBOLBOL
USASAFUSA
USASAFCAN
USASAFBOL
USAJPNUSA
USAJPNCAN
USAJPNBOL
USAUSAUSA
USAUSACAN
USAUSABOL
USACANUSA
USACANCAN
USACANBOL
USABOLUSA
USABOLCAN
USABOLBOL
CANSAFUSA
CANSAFCAN
CANSAFBOL
CANJPNUSA
CANJPNCAN
CANJPNBOL
CANUSAUSA
CANUSACAN
CANUSABOL
CANCANUSA
CANCANCAN
CANCANBOL
CANBOLUSA
CANBOLCAN
CANBOLBOL
BOLSAFUSA
BOLSAFCAN
BOLSAFBOL
BOLJPNUSA
BOLJPNCAN
BOLJPNBOL
BOLUSAUSA
BOLUSACAN
BOLUSABOL
BOLCANUSA
BOLCANCAN
BOLCANBOL
BOLBOLUSA
BOLBOLCAN
BOLBOLBOL

So it's doing partly what I want, the emboldend stuff is the 'correct' stuff ... but then, after the partial success, it continues and creates other invalid combos ...and that's not what I want ... as it combines two elements from the same line in each combo ...

I wish I knew what the code was doing 🙂)

cheers...