Dynamically Create Every Combination of Words Possible

[Masna]

Hello all. Long time no see. Anyhow, here's the deal...

 

I'm trying to write a function that will begin by splitting a sentence up into an array that contains one value per word in the sentence. It should continue by creating new sentence fragments: one sentence fragment for every combination and permutation of those words. For example, if I have a sentence "I love bees," I need the function to output the following...

 

I

love

bees

I love

love I

I bees

bees I

bees love

love bees

I love bees

love bees I

bees I love

love I bees

 

Basically, either I'm having a programmer's block, or this isn't simple. Any help? Thanks.

 

 

[Masna]

Bump.

[Hypnos]

Is there a max length of words you'll use it for?

[Masna]

Is there a max length of words you'll use it for?

 

That's my dilemma likewise. There isn't, thus, it all has to be dynamic.

[matthewhaworth]

$text = "i love bees";

// let's kick the string open
$words = explode(" ", $text);

// Count the amount of words
$amount = count($words);

$possib = $amount * $amount;

foreach($words as $word) {

// ahh.. this is difficult

}

[BlueSkyIS]

the number of possible combinations is

 

n!/(n-r)!

 

where n is the number of words in the collection and r is the number of words taken from the collection. So knowing that the minimum number of words is 1 and the maximum is the total number of words in the sentence:

 

$words = explode(" ",$sentence);

 

for ($i=0;$i<count($words);$i++) {

  // Make every possible permutation using $words[$i];

 

}

[Hypnos]

<?php
$input = "I love bees";

$input_arr = explode(' ', $input);
$count = count($input_arr);

//Find largest possible (Example: 4444 for 4)
$max = '';
while(strlen($max) < $count -1){
$max .= $count -1;
}

for ($index = 0; $index <= base_convert($max, $count, 10); $index++) {
$skip = FALSE;
$wordnumbers = base_convert($index, 10, $count);
for ($indextwo = 0; $indextwo <= $count; $indextwo++) {
	if(substr_count($wordnumbers, $indextwo) > 1) $skip = TRUE;		
}
if ($skip !== TRUE) {
	foreach(str_split($wordnumbers) as $arr) {
		print $input_arr[$arr] . " ";
	}
print "<BR>";
}

}

?>

 

I think I came close to making the universe implode, but I think it works.

 

EDIT: It doesn't do every order like yours...

 

It will do:

I

love

bees

love I

love bees

bees I

bees love

[matthewhaworth]

I'm interested in mathematical/programming challenges like this.  Anyone know where I could find more?

[Masna]

I got as far as everyone else here has, hehe. I just can't figure out how to dynamically create every combination of words in a given string.

[Hypnos]

<?php
$input = "I love bees";

$input_arr = explode(' ', $input);
$count = count($input_arr);

//Find largest possible (Example: 4444 for 4)
$max = '';
while (strlen($max) < $count) {
$max .= $count;
}

for ($index = 0; $index < base_convert($max, $count +1, 10); $index++) {

$wordnumbers = base_convert($index, 10, $count +1);
if (strpos($wordnumbers, '0') === FALSE) {
	$skip = FALSE;
	for ($indextwo = 0; $indextwo <= $count +1; $indextwo++) {
		if(substr_count($wordnumbers, $indextwo) > 1) $skip = TRUE;		
	}
	if ($skip !== TRUE) {
		foreach (str_split($wordnumbers) as $arr) {
			print $input_arr[$arr -1] . " ";
		}
		print "<BR>";
	}

}
}
?>

 

I

love

bees

I love

I bees

love I

love bees

bees I

bees love

I love bees

I bees love

love I bees

love bees I

bees I love

bees love I

 

Is that the output you want?

[Masna]

Indeed Hypnos. Thank you!