Were you ever asked to generate string Permutations using TSql? I was recently asked to do so, and the logic which I could manage to come up at that point is shared in the below script.
DECLARE @Value AS VARCHAR(20) = 'ABCC' --Mention the text which is to be permuted
DECLARE @NoOfChars AS INT = LEN(@Value)
DECLARE @Permutations TABLE(Value VARCHAR(20)) --Make sure the size of this Value is equal to your input string length (@Value)
;WITH NumTally AS (--Prepare the Tally Table to separate each character of the Value.
SELECT 1 Num
UNION ALL
SELECT
Num + 1
FROM
NumTally
WHERE
Num < @NoOfChars
),Chars AS ( --Separate the Characters
SELECT
Num,
SUBSTRING(@Value,Num,1) Chr
FROM
NumTally
)
--Persist the Separated characters.
INSERT INTO @Permutations
SELECT Chr FROM Chars
--Prepare Permutations
DECLARE @i AS INT = 1
WHILE(@i < @NoOfChars)
BEGIN
--Store the Permutations
INSERT INTO @Permutations
SELECT DISTINCT --Add DISTINCT if required else duplicate Permutations will be generated for Repeated Chars.
P1.Value + P2.Value
FROM
(SELECT Value FROM @Permutations WHERE LEN(Value) = @i) P1
CROSS JOIN
(SELECT Value FROM @Permutations WHERE LEN(Value) = 1) P2
--Increment the Counter.
SET @i += 1
--Delete the Incorrect Lengthed Permutations to keep the table size under control.
DELETE FROM @Permutations WHERE LEN(Value) NOT IN (1,@i)
END
--Delete InCorrect Permutations.
SET @i = 1
WHILE(@i <= @NoOfChars)
BEGIN
--Deleting Permutations which has not used "All the Chars of the given Value".
DELETE
FROM
@Permutations
WHERE
Value NOT LIKE '%' + SUBSTRING(@Value,@i,1) +'%'
--Deleting Permutations which have repeated incorrect character.
DELETE
FROM
@Permutations
WHERE
LEN(Value) - LEN(REPLACE(Value,SUBSTRING(@Value,@i,1),'')) !=
LEN(@Value) - LEN(REPLACE(@Value,SUBSTRING(@Value,@i,1),''))
SET @i += 1
END
--Selecting the generated Permutations.
SELECT Value FROM @Permutations
Hope, this script helps!
Please share your suggestions if you have any to improve this logic.