Generate combinations of elements held in multiple list of strings in C#
Just do a cross-join with each successive list:
IEnumerable<string> lstRes = new List<string> {null};
foreach(var list in lstMaster)
{
// cross join the current result with each member of the next list
lstRes = lstRes.SelectMany(o => list.Select(s => o + s));
}
results:
List<String> (8 items)
------------------------
1-Jan-2014
1-Jan-2015
1-Feb-2014
1-Feb-2015
2-Jan-2014
2-Jan-2015
2-Feb-2014
2-Feb-2015
Notes:
Declaring
lstRes
as anIEnumerable<string>
prevents the unnecessary creation of additional lists that will be thrown away with each iterationThe instinctual
null
is used so that the first cross-join will have something to build on (with strings,null + s = s
)
To make this truly dynamic you need two arrays of int
loop variables (index and count):
int numLoops = lstMaster.Count;
int[] loopIndex = new int[numLoops];
int[] loopCnt = new int[numLoops];
Then you need the logic to iterate through all these loopIndexes.
Init to start value (optional)
for(int i = 0; i < numLoops; i++) loopIndex[i] = 0;
for(int i = 0; i < numLoops; i++) loopCnt[i] = lstMaster[i].Count;
Finally a big loop that works through all combinations.
bool finished = false;
while(!finished)
{
// access current element
string line = "";
for(int i = 0; i < numLoops; i++)
{
line += lstMaster[i][loopIndex[i]];
}
llstRes.Add(line);
int n = numLoops-1;
for(;;)
{
// increment innermost loop
loopIndex[n]++;
// if at Cnt: reset, increment outer loop
if(loopIndex[n] < loopCnt[n]) break;
loopIndex[n] = 0;
n--;
if(n < 0)
{
finished=true;
break;
}
}
}