Generate combinations from a given range - go

Question

I'm trying to create a program capable to generate combinations from a given range.
I started editing this code below that generates combinations:
package main
import "fmt"
func nextPassword(n int, c string) func() string {
r := []rune(c)
p := make([]rune, n)
x := make([]int, len(p))
return func() string {
p := p[:len(x)]
for i, xi := range x {
p[i] = r[xi]
}
for i := len(x) - 1; i >= 0; i-- {
x[i]++
if x[i] < len(r) {
break
}
x[i] = 0
if i <= 0 {
x = x[0:0]
break
}
}
return string(p)
}
}
func main() {
np := nextPassword(2, "ABCDE")
for {
pwd := np()
if len(pwd) == 0 {
break
}
fmt.Println(pwd)
}
}
This is the Output of the code:
AA
AB
AC
AD
AE
BA
BB
BC
BD
BE
CA
CB
CC
CD
CE
DA
DB
DC
DD
DE
EA
EB
EC
ED
EE
And this is the code I edited:
package main
import "fmt"
const (
Min = 5
Max = 10
)
func nextPassword(n int, c string) func() string {
r := []rune(c)
p := make([]rune, n)
x := make([]int, len(p))
return func() string {
p := p[:len(x)]
for i, xi := range x {
p[i] = r[xi]
}
for i := len(x) - 1; i >= 0; i-- {
x[i]++
if x[i] < len(r) {
break
}
x[i] = 0
if i <= 0 {
x = x[0:0]
break
}
}
return string(p)
}
}
func main() {
cont := 0
np := nextPassword(2, "ABCDE")
for {
pwd := np()
if len(pwd) == 0 {
break
}
if cont >= Min && cont <= Max{
fmt.Println(pwd)
} else if cont > Max{
break
}
cont += 1
}
}
Output:
BA
BB
BC
BD
BE
CA
My code works, but if I increase the length of the combination and my range starts from the middle, the program will generate even the combinations that I don't want (and of course that will take a lot of time).
How can I solve this problem?

Answer 1

I really didn't like how nextPassword was written, so I made a variation. Rather than starting at 0 and repeatedly returning the next value, this one takes an integer and converts it to the corresponding "password." E.g. toPassword(0, 2, []rune("ABCDE")) is AA, and toPassword(5, ...) is BA.
From there, it's easy to loop over whatever range you want. But I also wrote a nextPassword wrapper around it that behaves similarly to the one in the original code. This one uses toPassword under the cover and takes a starting n.
Runnable version here: https://play.golang.org/p/fBo6mx4Mji
Code below:
package main
import (
"fmt"
)
func toPassword(n, length int, alphabet []rune) string {
base := len(alphabet)
// This will be our output
result := make([]rune, length)
// Start filling from the right
i := length - 1
// This is essentially a conversion to base-b, where b is
// the number of possible letters (5 in the case of "ABCDE")
for n > 0 {
// Filling from the right, put the right digit mod b
result[i] = alphabet[n%base]
// Divide the number by the base so we're ready for
// the next digit
n /= base
// Move to the left
i -= 1
}
// Fill anything that's left with "zeros" (first letter of
// the alphabet)
for i >= 0 {
result[i] = alphabet[0]
i -= 1
}
return string(result)
}
// Convenience function that just returns successive values from
// toPassword starting at start
func nextPassword(start, length int, alphabet []rune) func() string {
n := start
return func() string {
result := toPassword(n, length, alphabet)
n += 1
return result
}
}
func main() {
for i := 5; i < 11; i++ {
fmt.Println(toPassword(i, 2, []rune("ABCDE")))
} // BA, BB, BC, BD, BE, CA
// Now do the same thing using nextPassword
np := nextPassword(5, 2, []rune("ABCDE"))
for i := 0; i < 6; i++ {
fmt.Println(np())
} // BA, BB, BC, BD, BE, CA
}