Print all possible strings of length k that can be formed from a set of n characters (original) (raw)

Last Updated : 23 Jul, 2025

Given a set of characters and a positive integer k, print all possible strings of length k that can be formed from the given set.

Examples:

Input: set[] = {'a', 'b'}, k = 3

Output: aaa aab aba abb baa bab bba bbb

Input: set[] = {'a', 'b', 'c', 'd'}, k = 1 Output: a b c d

For a given set of size n, there will be n^k possible strings of length k. The idea is to start from an empty output string (we call it prefix in following code). One by one add all characters to prefix. For every character added, print all possible strings with current prefix by recursively calling for k equals to k-1.

Below is the implementation of above idea :

C++ `

// C++ program to print all // possible strings of length k #include <bits/stdc++.h> using namespace std;

// The main recursive method // to print all possible // strings of length k void printAllKLengthRec(char set[], string prefix, int n, int k) {

// Base case: k is 0,
// print prefix
if (k == 0)
{
    cout << (prefix) << endl;
    return;
}

// One by one add all characters 
// from set and recursively 
// call for k equals to k-1
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
    string newPrefix;
    
    // Next character of input added
    newPrefix = prefix + set[i];
    
    // k is decreased, because 
    // we have added a new character
    printAllKLengthRec(set, newPrefix, n, k - 1);
}

}

void printAllKLength(char set[], int k,int n) { printAllKLengthRec(set, "", n, k); }

// Driver Code int main() {

cout << "First Test" << endl;
char set1[] = {'a', 'b'};
int k = 3;
printAllKLength(set1, k, 2);

cout << "Second Test\n";
char set2[] = {'a', 'b', 'c', 'd'};
k = 1;
printAllKLength(set2, k, 4);

}

// This code is contributed // by Mohit kumar

Java

// Java program to print all // possible strings of length k

class GFG {

// The method that prints all // possible strings of length k. // It is mainly a wrapper over // recursive function printAllKLengthRec() static void printAllKLength(char[] set, int k) { int n = set.length; printAllKLengthRec(set, "", n, k); }

// The main recursive method // to print all possible // strings of length k static void printAllKLengthRec(char[] set, String prefix, int n, int k) {

// Base case: k is 0,
// print prefix
if (k == 0) 
{
    System.out.println(prefix);
    return;
}

// One by one add all characters 
// from set and recursively 
// call for k equals to k-1
for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i)
{

    // Next character of input added
    String newPrefix = prefix + set[i]; 
    
    // k is decreased, because 
    // we have added a new character
    printAllKLengthRec(set, newPrefix, 
                            n, k - 1); 
}

}

// Driver Code public static void main(String[] args) { System.out.println("First Test"); char[] set1 = {'a', 'b'}; int k = 3; printAllKLength(set1, k);

System.out.println("\nSecond Test");
char[] set2 = {'a', 'b', 'c', 'd'};
k = 1;
printAllKLength(set2, k); 

} }

Python3

Python 3 program to print all

possible strings of length k

The method that prints all

possible strings of length k.

It is mainly a wrapper over

recursive function printAllKLengthRec()

def printAllKLength(set, k):

n = len(set) 
printAllKLengthRec(set, "", n, k)

The main recursive method

to print all possible

strings of length k

def printAllKLengthRec(set, prefix, n, k):

# Base case: k is 0,
# print prefix
if (k == 0) :
    print(prefix)
    return

# One by one add all characters 
# from set and recursively 
# call for k equals to k-1
for i in range(n):

    # Next character of input added
    newPrefix = prefix + set[i]
    
    # k is decreased, because 
    # we have added a new character
    printAllKLengthRec(set, newPrefix, n, k - 1)

Driver Code

if name == "main":

print("First Test")
set1 = ['a', 'b']
k = 3
printAllKLength(set1, k)

print("\nSecond Test")
set2 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
k = 1
printAllKLength(set2, k)

This code is contributed

by ChitraNayal

C#

// C# program to print all // possible strings of length k using System;

class GFG {

// The method that prints all // possible strings of length k. // It is mainly a wrapper over // recursive function printAllKLengthRec() static void printAllKLength(char[] set, int k) { int n = set.Length; printAllKLengthRec(set, "", n, k); }

// The main recursive method // to print all possible // strings of length k static void printAllKLengthRec(char[] set, String prefix, int n, int k) {

// Base case: k is 0,
// print prefix
if (k == 0) 
{
    Console.WriteLine(prefix);
    return;
}

// One by one add all characters 
// from set and recursively 
// call for k equals to k-1
for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i)
{

    // Next character of input added
    String newPrefix = prefix + set[i]; 
    
    // k is decreased, because 
    // we have added a new character
    printAllKLengthRec(set, newPrefix, 
                            n, k - 1); 
}

}

// Driver Code static public void Main () { Console.WriteLine("First Test"); char[] set1 = {'a', 'b'}; int k = 3; printAllKLength(set1, k);

Console.WriteLine("\nSecond Test");
char[] set2 = {'a', 'b', 'c', 'd'};
k = 1;
printAllKLength(set2, k); 

} }

// This code is contributed by Ajit.

JavaScript

`

Output:

First Test aaa aab aba abb baa bab bba bbb

Second Test a b c d

Time complexity: O(nk)

Auxiliary Space: O(k)

The above solution is mainly a generalization of this post.