How do I generate permutations of length LEN given a list of N Items?

Question

Note: I\'m working in python on this.

For example, given a list:

list = [\'a\',\'b\',\'c\',\'d\',\'e\',\'f\',\'g\',\'h\',\'i\',\'j\']

Answer 1

You should use the permutations function from the itertools module.

>>> import itertools
>>> lst = ['a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h','i','j']
>>> itertools.permutations(lst, 3)

Or, if you really want to get combinations, then use the combinations function.

Answer 2

itertools.permutations(my_list, 3)

Answer 3

Assuming you're in python 2.6 or newer:

from itertools import permutations
for i in permutations(your_list, 3):
    print i