Loop a list to extract three of the numbers to make a unique combination

[JokeFun]

Hi,

Let me just show an example. I need to exaust all the possible combinations of three records from the list. I think iterative macro might help, by extracting 3 each time. But I am not sure how to code in this case. Any good idea?

And how about making all combinations of 2, 4, or 5 and so on?

Name1	Value1	RecordID	TotalRecords	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34
A	100	1	7	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
B	150	2	7	150	150	150	150	150											150	150	150	150	150	150	150	150	150	150
C	150	3	7	150					150	150	150	150							150	150	150	150							150	150	150	150	150	150
D	201	4	7		201				201				201	201	201				201				201	201	201				201	201	201				201	201	201
E	51	5	7			51				51			51			51	51			51			51			51	51		51			51	51		51	51		51
F	30	6	7				30				30			30		30		30			30			30		30		30		30		30		30	30		30	30
G	101	7	7					101				101			101		101	101				101			101		101	101			101		101	101		101	101	101
				400	451	301	280	351	451	301	280	351	352	331	402	181	252	231	501	351	330	401	402	381	452	231	302	281	402	381	452	231	302	281	282	353	332	182

[mbarone]

I don't use it much, but have you tried the Permutation Tool on the Data Investigation palate?

[JokeFun]

@mbarone Hi, Which version you are using? I am using V2020.3.5 and do not have this Permutation Tool.

[Christina_H]

You can do this with append tools, although if you have a lot of records the numbers will increase exponentially.

[danilang · Accepted solution]

Hi @JokeFun 

Here's a different take on the C(n,r) problem.  The overall strategy expresses the values from 1 to 2^n as integers and then takes all the ones that have r bits set to 1.  These combinations are joined to your original data to give you the groups.  You get a large number of intermediate rows, but since they're generated iteratively as opposed to through a Cross Join the algorithm is very fast.    The output is sorted by group and Input row

This is slight modification to my solution to Weekly Challenge 231, that allows you to specify the number of unique items in each group.  Since @Kenda, who submitted the original challenge is a vertical User, my solution is also vertical

Dan

[JokeFun]

@danilang Hi Dan, This is really a great workflow! Actually I don't have much idea of the bin thing, or the 1/0 thing in the workflow. But I see it's absolutely a nice application of those concepts in Alteryx. Thank you very much!

[JokeFun]

Hi @Christina_H Thank you very much! This is really a simple but great workflow with clear logic. It really gives me many hints.