Permutations in JavaScript?

Question

I\'m trying to write a function that does the following:

• takes an array of integers as an argument (e.g. [1,2,3,4])
• creates an array of all the possib

Answer 1

The following function permutates an array of any type and calls a specified callback function on each permutation found:

/*
  Permutate the elements in the specified array by swapping them
  in-place and calling the specified callback function on the array
  for each permutation.

  Return the number of permutations.

  If array is undefined, null or empty, return 0.

  NOTE: when permutation succeeds, the array should be in the original state
  on exit!
*/
  function permutate(array, callback) {
    // Do the actual permuation work on array[], starting at index
    function p(array, index, callback) {
      // Swap elements i1 and i2 in array a[]
      function swap(a, i1, i2) {
        var t = a[i1];
        a[i1] = a[i2];
        a[i2] = t;
      }

      if (index == array.length - 1) {
        callback(array);
        return 1;
      } else {
        var count = p(array, index + 1, callback);
        for (var i = index + 1; i < array.length; i++) {
          swap(array, i, index);
          count += p(array, index + 1, callback);
          swap(array, i, index);
        }
        return count;
      }
    }

    if (!array || array.length == 0) {
      return 0;
    }
    return p(array, 0, callback);
  }

If you call it like this:

  // Empty array to hold results
  var result = [];
  // Permutate [1, 2, 3], pushing every permutation onto result[]
  permutate([1, 2, 3], function (a) {
    // Create a copy of a[] and add that to result[]
    result.push(a.slice(0));
  });
  // Show result[]
  document.write(result);

I think it will do exactly what you need - fill an array called result with the permutations of the array [1, 2, 3]. The result is:

[[1,2,3],[1,3,2],[2,1,3],[2,3,1],[3,2,1],[3,1,2]]

Slightly clearer code on JSFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/MgmMg/6/