Find all possible combinations from lists in an excel spreadsheet

One way of looking at this problem is that of counting in binary from 1 to x, where x = 2^n - 1 and n=number of words (not counting the first one). When a bit is "1", then the word is added to the string. When the bit is "0", then the word is not added to the string. For five words in A1:E1, the counting formula to build the string would be:
=$A$1 & IF(MOD(ROW(),2)>=1,"+" & B$1,"")& IF(MOD(ROW(),4)>=2,"+" & C$1,"")& IF(MOD(ROW(),8)>=4,"+" & D$1,"")& IF(MOD(ROW(),16)>=8,"+" & E$1,"")

If you copy this formula down, it will build the requested string. I trust you can generalize the pattern for different numbers of words.

Brad

Brad,
Thanks. So what do I change if I have more than 5 columns?
 Also this includes the value from column A plus itself (i.e. bbContag + bbContag) is there way to make it not do that? It didn't quite work please review the output below (repeats, etc):
bbContag+bbED
bbContag+bbContag
bbContag+bbED+bbContag
bbContag+bbED
bbContag+bbED+bbED
bbContag+bbContag+bbED
bbContag+bbED+bbContag+bbED
bbContag+bbLSI
bbContag+bbED+bbLSI
bbContag+bbContag+bbLSI
bbContag+bbED+bbContag+bbLSI
bbContag+bbED+bbLSI
bbContag+bbED+bbED+bbLSI
bbContag+bbContag+bbED+bbLSI
bbContag+bbED+bbContag+bbED+bbLSI
bbContag


Thanks again,
Cheers,
JE

The above does not solve the problem of how to get the rows out of the Excel document. The easy approach (if acceptable) could be to export the rows into csv format and then read the csv file using Python's standard module csv.

Sorry for the attached result.txt above. It contains also one more section at the beginning that contains the permutations made of all elements (i.e. from the simpler example typed in front of the snippet). The snippet results start with...

Permutations of the length 1
--------------------------------------------------
bbContag
bbED
bbENN_MN
bbLPI
bbLSI

Permutations of the length 2
--------------------------------------------------
bbContag+bbED
bbContag+bbENN_MN
bbContag+bbLPI
bbContag+bbLSI
bbED+bbContag
bbED+bbENN_MN
bbED+bbLPI
bbED+bbLSI
bbENN_MN+bbContag
bbENN_MN+bbED
bbENN_MN+bbLPI
bbENN_MN+bbLSI
bbLPI+bbContag
bbLPI+bbED
bbLPI+bbENN_MN
bbLPI+bbLSI
bbLSI+bbContag
bbLSI+bbED
bbLSI+bbENN_MN
bbLSI+bbLPI

Permutations of the length 3
--------------------------------------------------
bbContag+bbED+bbENN_MN
bbContag+bbED+bbLPI
bbContag+bbED+bbLSI
bbContag+bbENN_MN+bbED
bbContag+bbENN_MN+bbLPI

etc.

pepr:
Exporting to csv would be acceptable, so would a text file.

Thanks,
JE

JE,
There are only 15 possible answers for four words in addition to the fixed one. If you put the formula in row 1 and copy down through row 15, all are listed. The invariant word is listed in row 16, and duplicates in the following rows.

As an alternative, here is a macro that will enumerate the possibilities in a column immediately below your words. Select the words, then run the macro.

To install a sub in a regular module sheet:
1) ALT + F11 to open the VBA Editor
2) Use the Insert...Module menu item to create a blank module sheet
3) Paste the suggested code in this module sheet
4) ALT + F11 to return to the spreadsheet

To run a sub or macro:
5) ALT + F8 to open the macro window
6) Select the macro
7) Click the "Run" button

Optional steps to assign a shortcut key to your macro:
8) Repeat steps 5 & 6, then press the "Options" button
9) Enter the character you want to use (Shift + character will have fewer conflicts with existing shortcuts)
10) Enter some descriptive text telling what the macro does in the "Description" field
11) Click the "OK" button

If the above procedure doesn't work, then you need to change your macro security setting. To do so, open the Tools...Macro...Security menu item. Choose Medium, then click OK.

Brad

Sub Combinatrix()
'Forms all the combinations of one fixed value with varying numbers of other values
'Uses binary counting method
Dim i As Long, j As Long, k As Long, N As Long, NN As Long
Dim v As Variant, vInputs As Variant, vResults As Variant
Dim s As String
N = Application.CountA(Selection.Value)
ReDim vInputs(1 To N)
For i = 1 To N
    If Selection.Cells(i) <> "" Then
        j = j + 1
        vInputs(j) = Selection.Cells(i)
    End If
Next
ReDim Preserve vInputs(1 To j)
 
NN = 2 ^ (N - 1) - 1
ReDim vResults(1 To NN, 1 To 1)
For i = 1 To NN
    vResults(i, 1) = vInputs(1)
    For j = 2 To N
        k = IIf((i Mod 2 ^ (j - 1)) >= 2 ^ (j - 2), 1, 0)
        If k = 1 Then vResults(i, 1) = vResults(i, 1) & "+" & vInputs(j)
    Next
Next
Selection.Offset(1, 0).Resize(NN, 1).Value = vResults
End Sub

Select all Open in new window

Pepr:
Also, from above I asked "I need to create a list from these numbers that always contain the value from column1 and then all possible combination of the values from the remaining columns' values" The python script does not do this, as is. Can this be implemented or would it be easier to go through and select the ones that fit this manually?

Also, can this be set up to work with a list of lists? What I mean is if you look at my spreadsheet example I have several rows I'd like to do this on, but each has different string values for among the cells in its row?

Thanks,
JE

byundt:

This macro works well. My only question is, can it somehow place the result in a new sheet, or somewhere else.

The way my values are setup now I several rows with values that are right after one another. If you look at my example xls above you'll see what I mean. With the current incarnation of this macro it will replace the first column for the subsequent rows.

So, I guess, is there way to make it run all the rows and then save them as columns (e.g. row1's result = column a, row2's result = columnb, etc) on a new sheet? If this is not easily done, I will just do the rows one by one and cut and paste.

Thank you kindly,
JE

byundt:
Awesome.

Thanks,
JE

Thanks.

JE,
Thanks for the grade!
Brad

justearth> Pepr: Also, from above I asked "I need to create a list from these numbers
justearth> that always contain the value from column1 and then all possible combination
justearth> of the values from the remaining columns' values" The python script
justearth> does not do this, as is. Can this be implemented

Yes. The script solves a single row. But it can be wrapped into another loop that goes through the rows.

The modification for preserving the first value is also easy. I guess, you already have your solution. Anyway, the core of the code would be like

row = ['bbContag', 'bbED', 'bbENN_MN', 'bbLPI', 'bbLSI']

for row in get_the_row_here():
    elem1 = row[0]
    rowtail = row[1:]

    here put the above loop

pepr:
Thank you kindly for the follow-up. I really appreciate it.

Cheers,
JE

Hello,
If interested I have a follow-up question:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Office_Productivity/Office_Suites/MS_Office/Excel/Q_23813830.html

I'd like to change the output format.

Thanks again,
JE