How to reorder string variable x factorial different ways?

[PhilOfPerth]

Say I have a string variable abcd$. The letters in the variable can be arranged 4 factorial or 4x3x2x1 different ways. How can I produce every combination? Find Len(abcd$) then a for/next loop Len factorial times, but what inside the loop? I'm at a loss here.

I' m currently working on a similar problem for one of my games (hope it's not the same game!) so I'll be interested to see what comes up from the gurus here.

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I tried running the string "THIS" in this FreeBASIC permutation algorithm, but it got stuck in an endless loop...

Code: (Select All)

Print "Find the permutations of the word: THIS."

a$ = "THIS"

Sleep 5

Do

    a = (Rnd * 3 Mod 4) * 365 / 4 ^ 7 + 4

    b = (Rnd * 3 Mod 4) * 365 / 4 ^ 7 + 2

    c = (Rnd * 3 Mod 4) * 365 / 4 ^ 7 + 3

    d = (Rnd * 3 Mod 4) * 365 / 4 ^ 7 + 1

    Print Mid$(a$, a, 1) + Mid$(a$, b, 1) + Mid$(a$, c, 1) + Mid$(a$, d, 1); " ";

    _Delay .02

Loop Until perm = 24

I'm thinking about emailing it to Clippy, as a screen saver.

Pete

Wow, wonder why that happens!