http://qs1969.pair.com?node_id=180319


in reply to Puzzle: need a more general algorithm

If you want to generate all possible combinations, you could use this algorithm:

$categories = 5; $columns = 3; $a = join('#', 0..$categories); @columns = (); &check_columns ($a, @columns); sub check_columns { my $cat = shift; my @columns = @_; my $size = split('#', $cat)-1; foreach (1.. $size ) { my ($first, $second) = $cat =~ /^((?:.*?#){$_})(.*?)$/; $first =~ s/#$//; my @result = ($first, $second, @columns); if ($#result == $columns) { print join(" ", @result), "\n", } else { check_columns(@result); } } }

It generates this list of indexes, from which you can choose the best line:

0 1 2 3#4#5 0 1 2#3 4#5 0 1#2 3 4#5 0#1 2 3 4#5 0 1 2#3#4 5 0 1#2 3#4 5 0#1 2 3#4 5 0 1#2#3 4 5 0#1 2#3 4 5 0#1#2 3 4 5

I used an array of strings instead of an array of arrays because it is easier to debug.