Possible Unique Combinations 3

[jhall01]

I have a table that with 1 column that I need to create a dynamic list of combinations 3 wide.

Table:

letters
-------
a
b
c
d
e

need to output:

abc,abd,abe,acd,ace,ade,bcd,bce,cde

I can only have a unique combination, so no matter the order the combination cannot be used again. This needs to be dynamic so that if i add a letter to the list the combinations get output with all the possible combinations.

Right now I am just focusing on 3-letter combinations only no matter how long the list.

Thanks in advance

 

[donutman]

[Blue]SELECT[/Blue] Y1.Letters[Gray]+[/Gray]Y2.Letters[Gray]+[/Gray]Y3.Letters 
   [Blue]FROM[/Blue] YourTable Y1 [Blue]INNER[/Blue] [Gray]JOIN[/Gray] YourTable Y2
      [Blue]ON[/Blue] Y1.Letters[Gray]<[/Gray]Y2.Letters
   [Blue]INNER[/Blue] [Gray]JOIN[/Gray] YourTable Y3
      [Blue]ON[/Blue] Y2.Letters[Gray]<[/Gray]Y3.Letters

-Karl

[red] Cursors, triggers, user-defined functions and dynamic SQL are an axis of evil![/red]
[green]Life's uncertain...eat dessert first...www.deerfieldbakery.com[/green]

 

[dbomrrsm]

very clever donutman - worthy of a star

[blue]DBomrrsm[/blue]

 

[jhall01]

Thanks! Perfect solution and Fast!!!!!!!

 

[donutman]

Gee, I wish the question was for 6-letter combinations, maybe I'd have gotten 6 stars!
-Karl

[red] Cursors, triggers, user-defined functions and dynamic SQL are an axis of evil![/red]
[green]Life's uncertain...eat dessert first...www.deerfieldbakery.com[/green]

 

[dbomrrsm]

just tested your solution on the whole alphabet for 10 possible 10 letter combinations and it returned 5311735 rows in 3 mins 48 seconds - pretty nifty

[blue]DBomrrsm[/blue]