c++ : dynamic number of nested for loops (without recursion)

Question

I\'m writing a code segment that iterates through every permutation of n digits. So for example, if n = 3, I would want to iterate through each of the following elements:

Answer 1

In genreral case if you like to replace recursion to flat code you should use the stack (LIFO). So if you have recursive algorithm:

void print(std::string str, int depth)
{
  if (depth == n) {
    std::cout << str << std::endl;
    return;
  }

  for (int i = 0; i < 10; ++i) {
    char val[2] = { i + '0', 0 };
    print(str + val + ", ", depth+1);
  }
}

You can transform it to LIFO-based with saving local variables (str and i in this case):

struct StackItem {
  StackItem(const std::string& ss, unsigned ii)
    : str(ss), i(ii)
    {}
  std::string str;
  int i;
};

void print_norec()
{
  std::list< StackItem > stack;
  stack.push_back(StackItem("", 0));
  while (!stack.empty()) {
    StackItem& current = stack.back();
    if (stack.size() == n+1) {
      std::cout << current.str << std::endl;
      stack.pop_back(); // return from "recursive" function
      continue;
    }
    if (current.i < 10) {
      char val[2] = { current.i + '0', 0 };
      // call "recursive" function
      stack.push_back(StackItem(current.str + val + ", ", 0)); 
      current.i++;
    } else {          
      stack.pop_back(); // return from "recursive" function
    }
  }
}