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[Utility & Helpers](/categories/utility) 4. / 5. bentools/string-combinations ActiveLibrary[Utility & Helpers](/categories/utility) bentools/string-combinations ============================ A simple, low-memory footprint function to generate all string combinations from a series of characters. 1.4(11mo ago)31206.9k↓47.4%6MITPHPPHP >=7.4CI passing Since Jun 22Pushed 11mo ago3 watchersCompare [ Source](https://github.com/bpolaszek/string-combinations)[ Packagist](https://packagist.org/packages/bentools/string-combinations)[ RSS](/packages/bentools-string-combinations/feed)WikiDiscussions master Synced 2d ago READMEChangelog (2)Dependencies (5)Versions (7)Used By (0) [![Latest Stable Version](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/b3cca79cc0a6970cefb05b112e8c3960ecbf3735feb799e61e826d67c46001c2/68747470733a2f2f706f7365722e707567782e6f72672f62656e746f6f6c732f737472696e672d636f6d62696e6174696f6e732f762f737461626c65)](https://packagist.org/packages/bentools/string-combinations)[![License](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/342273a473523c80a464211379030db1f8dad15681ec674cacf961b4c1dd7c1c/68747470733a2f2f706f7365722e707567782e6f72672f62656e746f6f6c732f737472696e672d636f6d62696e6174696f6e732f6c6963656e7365)](https://packagist.org/packages/bentools/string-combinations)[![CI Workflow](https://github.com/bpolaszek/string-combinations/actions/workflows/ci-workflow.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/bpolaszek/string-combinations/actions/workflows/ci-workflow.yml)[![Coverage](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/45b4b07cf01db6635e7b7dcb70105dab50698e73d5b460b0bccd6e7718f1b03f/68747470733a2f2f636f6465636f762e696f2f67682f62706f6c61737a656b2f737472696e672d636f6d62696e6174696f6e732f6272616e63682f6d61737465722f67726170682f62616467652e7376673f746f6b656e3d43463844524939584457)](https://codecov.io/gh/bpolaszek/string-combinations)[![Quality Score](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/77d8b87ff64b85f070028da6300594b886f3c1d23e00e240c438d75038aafbb3/68747470733a2f2f696d672e736869656c64732e696f2f7363727574696e697a65722f672f62706f6c61737a656b2f737472696e672d636f6d62696e6174696f6e732e7376673f7374796c653d666c61742d737175617265)](https://scrutinizer-ci.com/g/bpolaszek/string-combinations)[![Total Downloads](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/ef1c61e89e8d74cfeb8ad6e73126da7944534abdc0b106c857eafc70b6265a26/68747470733a2f2f706f7365722e707567782e6f72672f62656e746f6f6c732f737472696e672d636f6d62696e6174696f6e732f646f776e6c6f616473)](https://packagist.org/packages/bentools/string-combinations) String combinations =================== [](#string-combinations) A simple, low-memory footprint function to generate all string combinations from a series of characters. Installation ------------ [](#installation) PHP 7.4+ is required. > composer require bentools/string-combinations Usage ----- [](#usage) I want to get all combinations with the letters `a`, `b`, `c`. ``` require_once __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php'; use function BenTools\StringCombinations\string_combinations; foreach (string_combinations('abc') as $combination) { // Can also be string_combinations(['a', 'b', 'c']) echo $combination . PHP_EOL; } ``` Output: ``` a b c aa ab ac ba bb bc ca cb cc aaa aab aac aba abb abc aca acb acc baa bab bac bba bbb bbc bca bcb bcc caa cab cac cba cbb cbc cca ccb ccc ``` **Array output** *It will dump all combinations into an array.* ``` var_dump(string_combinations('abc')->asArray()); ``` **Count combinations** *It will return the number of possible combinations.* ``` var_dump(count(string_combinations('abc'))); // 39 ``` **Specifying min length, max length** ``` foreach (string_combinations('abc', $min = 2, $max = 2) as $combination) { echo $combination . PHP_EOL; } ``` Output: ``` aa ab ac ba bb bc ca cb cc ``` **Using an array as first argument, and a separator** ``` foreach (string_combinations(['woof', 'meow', 'roar'], 2, 3, '-') as $combination) { echo $combination . PHP_EOL; } ``` Output: ``` woof-woof woof-meow woof-roar meow-woof meow-meow meow-roar roar-woof roar-meow roar-roar woof-woof-woof woof-woof-meow woof-woof-roar woof-meow-woof woof-meow-meow woof-meow-roar woof-roar-woof woof-roar-meow woof-roar-roar meow-woof-woof meow-woof-meow meow-woof-roar meow-meow-woof meow-meow-meow meow-meow-roar meow-roar-woof meow-roar-meow meow-roar-roar roar-woof-woof roar-woof-meow roar-woof-roar roar-meow-woof roar-meow-meow roar-meow-roar roar-roar-woof roar-roar-meow roar-roar-roar ``` **No duplicates** You can avoid generating stings having the same letter more than once with the `withoutDuplicates()` method: ``` $combinations = string_combinations('abc'); var_dump(count($combinations)); // 39 print_r($combinations->asArray()); ``` > Array ( \[0\] => a \[1\] => b \[2\] => c \[3\] => aa \[4\] => ab \[5\] => ac \[6\] => ba \[7\] => bb \[8\] => bc \[9\] => ca \[10\] => cb \[11\] => cc \[12\] => aaa \[13\] => aab \[14\] => aac \[15\] => aba \[16\] => abb \[17\] => abc \[18\] => aca \[19\] => acb \[20\] => acc \[21\] => baa \[22\] => bab \[23\] => bac \[24\] => bba \[25\] => bbb \[26\] => bbc \[27\] => bca \[28\] => bcb \[29\] => bcc \[30\] => caa \[31\] => cab \[32\] => cac \[33\] => cba \[34\] => cbb \[35\] => cbc \[36\] => cca \[37\] => ccb \[38\] => ccc ) ``` $combinations = $combinations->withoutDuplicates(); var_dump(count($combinations)); // 15 print_r($combinations->asArray()); ``` > Array ( \[0\] => a \[1\] => b \[2\] => c \[3\] => ab \[4\] => ac \[5\] => ba \[6\] => bc \[7\] => ca \[8\] => cb \[9\] => abc \[10\] => acb \[11\] => bac \[12\] => bca \[13\] => cab \[14\] => cba ) Performance considerations -------------------------- [](#performance-considerations) Because it uses [Generators](http://php.net/manual/en/language.generators.syntax.php) to generate all possible combinations, you can iterate over thousands of possibilities without losing a single MB. This has been executed on my Core i7 personnal computer with 8GB RAM: ``` require_once __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php'; use function BenTools\StringCombinations\string_combinations; $start = microtime(true); $combinations = string_combinations('abcd1234'); foreach ($combinations as $c => $combination) { continue; } $end = microtime(true); printf( 'Generated %d combinations in %ss - Memory usage: %sMB / Peak usage: %sMB' . PHP_EOL, ++$c, round($end - $start, 3), round(memory_get_usage(true) / 1024 / 1024), round(memory_get_peak_usage(true) / 1024 / 1024) ); ``` Output: > Generated 19173960 combinations in 5.579s - Memory usage: 2MB / Peak usage: 2MB Tests ----- [](#tests) > ./vendor/bin/phpunit See also -------- [](#see-also) - [bentools/cartesian-product](https://github.com/bpolaszek/cartesian-product) - [bentools/iterable-functions](https://github.com/bpolaszek/php-iterable-functions) ### Health Score 48 — FairBetter than 93% of packages Maintenance50 Moderate activity, may be stable Popularity45 Moderate usage in the ecosystem Community13 Small or concentrated contributor base Maturity67 Established project with proven stability Bus Factor1 Top contributor holds 83.3% of commits — single point of failure How is this calculated?**Maintenance (25%)** — Last commit recency, latest release date, and issue-to-star ratio. Uses a 2-year decay window. **Popularity (30%)** — Total and monthly downloads, GitHub stars, and forks. Logarithmic scaling prevents top-heavy scores. **Community (15%)** — Contributors, dependents, forks, watchers, and maintainers. Measures real ecosystem engagement. **Maturity (30%)** — Project age, version count, PHP version support, and release stability. ### Release Activity Cadence Every ~737 days Total 5 Last Release 350d ago PHP version history (2 changes)1.0PHP >=5.6 1.3PHP >=7.4 ### Community Maintainers ![](https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/acdd1a8ee0e657ddd06cf11f98a32100ef7121afb8aa270a5b295f5c29c038b3?d=identicon)[bpolaszek](/maintainers/bpolaszek) --- Top Contributors [![bpolaszek](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/5569077?v=4)](https://github.com/bpolaszek "bpolaszek (10 commits)")[![progdog-ru](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/68942249?v=4)](https://github.com/progdog-ru "progdog-ru (2 commits)") --- Tags combinationslightweightmanipulationmemoryphpstring ### Code Quality TestsPHPUnit Code StylePHP\_CodeSniffer ### Embed Badge ![Health badge](/badges/bentools-string-combinations/health.svg) ``` [![Health](https://phpackages.com/badges/bentools-string-combinations/health.svg)](https://phpackages.com/packages/bentools-string-combinations) ``` ### Alternatives [leaphly/cart-bundle Cart Bundle 1014.2k1](/packages/leaphly-cart-bundle) PHPackages © 2026 [Directory](/)[Categories](/categories)[Trending](/trending)[Changelog](/changelog)[Analyze](/analyze)