diff --git a/src/main/java/com/thealgorithms/backtracking/Combination.java b/src/main/java/com/thealgorithms/backtracking/Combination.java
index ecaf7428f986..31eeb09d667c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/thealgorithms/backtracking/Combination.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/thealgorithms/backtracking/Combination.java
@@ -7,19 +7,22 @@
import java.util.TreeSet;
/**
- * Finds all permutations of given array
- * @author Alan Piao (git-Alan Piao)
+ * Finds all combinations of a given array using backtracking
+ *
+ * @author Alan Piao
+ @edit Sarthak Shelar
*/
public final class Combination {
private Combination() {
}
/**
- * Find all combinations of given array using backtracking
+ * Find all combinations of a given array using backtracking
+ *
* @param arr the array.
- * @param n length of combination
+ * @param n length of combination
* @param the type of elements in the array.
- * @return a list of all combinations of length n. If n == 0, return null.
+ * @return a list of all combinations of length n. If n == 0, return an empty list.
*/
public static List> combination(T[] arr, int n) {
if (n < 0) {
@@ -29,39 +32,35 @@ public static List> combination(T[] arr, int n) {
if (n == 0) {
return Collections.emptyList();
}
+
T[] array = arr.clone();
- Arrays.sort(array);
+ Arrays.sort(array); // Sort to maintain consistent order
List> result = new LinkedList<>();
- backtracking(array, n, 0, new TreeSet(), result);
+ backtrack(array, n, 0, new LinkedList<>(), result);
return result;
}
/**
* Backtrack all possible combinations of a given array
- * @param arr the array.
- * @param n length of the combination
- * @param index the starting index.
- * @param currSet set that tracks current combination
- * @param result the list contains all combination.
- * @param the type of elements in the array.
+ *
+ * @param arr the array.
+ * @param n length of the combination
+ * @param index the starting index.
+ * @param current current combination under construction
+ * @param result the list that contains all valid combinations
+ * @param the type of elements in the array.
*/
- private static void backtracking(T[] arr, int n, int index, TreeSet currSet, List> result) {
- if (index + n - currSet.size() > arr.length) {
- return;
- }
- if (currSet.size() == n - 1) {
- for (int i = index; i < arr.length; i++) {
- currSet.add(arr[i]);
- result.add(new TreeSet<>(currSet));
- currSet.remove(arr[i]);
- }
+ private static void backtrack(T[] arr, int n, int index, LinkedList current, List> result) {
+ if (current.size() == n) {
+ result.add(new TreeSet<>(current)); // Convert to TreeSet to ensure uniqueness and sorted order
return;
}
+
for (int i = index; i < arr.length; i++) {
- currSet.add(arr[i]);
- backtracking(arr, n, i + 1, currSet, result);
- currSet.remove(arr[i]);
+ current.add(arr[i]);
+ backtrack(arr, n, i + 1, current, result);
+ current.removeLast();
}
}
}