Python permutations with constraints

Question

I am using python 3 and I am trying to find a way to get all the permutations of a list while enforcing some constraints.

For instance, I have a list L=[1, 2,

Answer 1

One way is to take one of the swapping algorithms, and when you are about to swap an element to its final position, check if it's in the right order. The code below does just this.

But first let me show its usage:

L = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
constraints = [[1, 2], [3, 4, 5], [6, 7]]

A = list(p[:] for p in constrained_permutations(L, constraints)) # copy the permutation if you want to keep it
print(len(A))
print(["".join(map(str, p)) for p in A[:50]])

and the output:

210
['1234567', '1234657', '1234675', '1236457', '1236475', '1236745', '1263457', '1263475', '1263745', '1267345', '1324567', '1324657', '1324675', '1326457', '1326475', '1326745', '1342567', '1342657', '1342675', '1345267', '1345627', '1345672', '1346527', '1346572', '1346257', '1346275', '1346725', '1346752', '1364527', '1364572', '1364257', '1364275', '1364725', '1364752', '1362457', '1362475', '1362745', '1367245', '1367425', '1367452', '1634527', '1634572', '1634257', '1634275', '1634725', '1634752', '1632457', '1632475', '1632745', '1637245']

But now the code:

def _permute(L, nexts, numbers, begin, end):
    if end == begin + 1:
        yield L
    else:
        for i in range(begin, end):
            c = L[i]
            if nexts[c][0] == numbers[c]:
                nexts[c][0] += 1
                L[begin], L[i] = L[i], L[begin]
                for p in _permute(L, nexts, numbers, begin + 1, end):
                    yield p
                L[begin], L[i] = L[i], L[begin]
                nexts[c][0] -= 1


def constrained_permutations(L, constraints):
    # warning: assumes that L has unique, hashable elements
    # constraints is a list of constraints, where each constraint is a list of elements which should appear in the permatation in that order
    # warning: constraints may not overlap!
    nexts = dict((a, [0]) for a in L)
    numbers = dict.fromkeys(L, 0) # number of each element in its constraint
    for constraint in constraints:
        for i, pos in enumerate(constraint):
            nexts[pos] = nexts[constraint[0]]
            numbers[pos] = i

    for p in _permute(L, nexts, numbers, 0, len(L)):
        yield p