C++: Combinations

Given non-negative integers m and n, generate all size m combinations of the integers from 0 to n-1 in sorted order (each combination is sorted and the entire table is sorted).

For example, 3 comb 5 is

0 1 2
0 1 3
0 1 4
0 2 3
0 2 4
0 3 4
1 2 3
1 2 4
1 3 4
2 3 4

If it is more “natural” in your language to start counting from 1 instead of 0 the combinations can be of the integers from 1 to n.

#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>

void comb(int N, int K)
{
	std::string bitmask(K, 1); // K leading 1's
	bitmask.resize(N, 0); // N-K trailing 0's

	// print integers and permute bitmask
	do {
		for (int i = 0; i < N; ++i) // [0..N-1] integers
		{
			if (bitmask[i]) std::cout << " " << i;
		}
		std::cout << std::endl;
	} while (std::prev_permutation(bitmask.begin(), bitmask.end()));
}

int main()
{
	comb(5, 3);
}

 0 1 2
 0 1 3
 0 1 4
 0 2 3
 0 2 4
 0 3 4
 1 2 3
 1 2 4
 1 3 4
 2 3 4

SOURCE

Content is available under GNU Free Documentation License 1.2.