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Generate all combinations in SQL

I need to generate all combinations of size @k in a given set of size @n. Can someone please review the following SQL and determine first if the following logic is returning the expected results, and second if is there a better way?

/*CREATE FUNCTION dbo.Factorial ( @x int ) 开发者_开发知识库
RETURNS int 
AS
BEGIN
    DECLARE @value int

    IF @x <= 1
        SET @value = 1
    ELSE
        SET @value = @x * dbo.Factorial( @x - 1 )

    RETURN @value
END
GO*/
SET NOCOUNT ON;
DECLARE @k int = 5, @n int;
DECLARE @set table ( [value] varchar(24) );
DECLARE @com table ( [index] int );

INSERT @set VALUES ('1'),('2'),('3'),('4'),('5'),('6');

SELECT @n = COUNT(*) FROM @set;

DECLARE @combinations int = dbo.Factorial(@n) / (dbo.Factorial(@k) * dbo.Factorial(@n - @k));

PRINT CAST(@combinations as varchar(max)) + ' combinations';

DECLARE @index int = 1;

WHILE @index <= @combinations
BEGIN
    INSERT @com VALUES (@index)
    SET @index = @index + 1
END;

WITH [set] as (
    SELECT 
        [value], 
        ROW_NUMBER() OVER ( ORDER BY [value] ) as [index]
    FROM @set
)
SELECT 
    [values].[value], 
    [index].[index] as [combination]
FROM [set] [values]
CROSS JOIN @com [index]
WHERE ([index].[index] + [values].[index] - 1) % (@n) BETWEEN 1 AND @k
ORDER BY
    [index].[index];


Returning Combinations

Using a numbers table or number-generating CTE, select 0 through 2^n - 1. Using the bit positions containing 1s in these numbers to indicate the presence or absence of the relative members in the combination, and eliminating those that don't have the correct number of values, you should be able to return a result set with all the combinations you desire.

WITH Nums (Num) AS (
   SELECT Num
   FROM Numbers
   WHERE Num BETWEEN 0 AND POWER(2, @n) - 1
), BaseSet AS (
   SELECT ind = Power(2, Row_Number() OVER (ORDER BY Value) - 1), *
   FROM @set
), Combos AS (
   SELECT
      ComboID = N.Num,
      S.Value,
      Cnt = Count(*) OVER (PARTITION BY N.Num)
   FROM
      Nums N
      INNER JOIN BaseSet S ON N.Num & S.ind <> 0
)
SELECT
   ComboID,
   Value
FROM Combos
WHERE Cnt = @k
ORDER BY ComboID, Value;

This query performs pretty well, but I thought of a way to optimize it, cribbing from the Nifty Parallel Bit Count to first get the right number of items taken at a time. This performs 3 to 3.5 times faster (both CPU and time):

WITH Nums AS (
   SELECT Num, P1 = (Num & 0x55555555) + ((Num / 2) & 0x55555555)
   FROM dbo.Numbers
   WHERE Num BETWEEN 0 AND POWER(2, @n) - 1
), Nums2 AS (
   SELECT Num, P2 = (P1 & 0x33333333) + ((P1 / 4) & 0x33333333)
   FROM Nums
), Nums3 AS (
   SELECT Num, P3 = (P2 & 0x0f0f0f0f) + ((P2 / 16) & 0x0f0f0f0f)
   FROM Nums2
), BaseSet AS (
   SELECT ind = Power(2, Row_Number() OVER (ORDER BY Value) - 1), *
   FROM @set
)
SELECT
   ComboID = N.Num,
   S.Value
FROM
   Nums3 N
   INNER JOIN BaseSet S ON N.Num & S.ind <> 0
WHERE P3 % 255 = @k
ORDER BY ComboID, Value;

I went and read the bit-counting page and think that this could perform better if I don't do the % 255 but go all the way with bit arithmetic. When I get a chance I'll try that and see how it stacks up.

My performance claims are based on the queries run without the ORDER BY clause. For clarity, what this code is doing is counting the number of set 1-bits in Num from the Numbers table. That's because the number is being used as a sort of indexer to choose which elements of the set are in the current combination, so the number of 1-bits will be the same.

I hope you like it!

For the record, this technique of using the bit pattern of integers to select members of a set is what I've coined the "Vertical Cross Join." It effectively results in the cross join of multiple sets of data, where the number of sets & cross joins is arbitrary. Here, the number of sets is the number of items taken at a time.

Actually cross joining in the usual horizontal sense (of adding more columns to the existing list of columns with each join) would look something like this:

SELECT
   A.Value,
   B.Value,
   C.Value
FROM
   @Set A
   CROSS JOIN @Set B
   CROSS JOIN @Set C
WHERE
   A.Value = 'A'
   AND B.Value = 'B'
   AND C.Value = 'C'

My queries above effectively "cross join" as many times as necessary with only one join. The results are unpivoted compared to actual cross joins, sure, but that's a minor matter.

Critique of Your Code

First, may I suggest this change to your Factorial UDF:

ALTER FUNCTION dbo.Factorial (
   @x bigint
)
RETURNS bigint
AS
BEGIN
   IF @x <= 1 RETURN 1
   RETURN @x * dbo.Factorial(@x - 1)
END

Now you can calculate much larger sets of combinations, plus it's more efficient. You might even consider using decimal(38, 0) to allow larger intermediate calculations in your combination calculations.

Second, your given query does not return the correct results. For example, using my test data from the performance testing below, set 1 is the same as set 18. It looks like your query takes a sliding stripe that wraps around: each set is always 5 adjacent members, looking something like this (I pivoted to make it easier to see):

 1 ABCDE            
 2 ABCD            Q
 3 ABC            PQ
 4 AB            OPQ
 5 A            NOPQ
 6             MNOPQ
 7            LMNOP 
 8           KLMNO  
 9          JKLMN   
10         IJKLM    
11        HIJKL     
12       GHIJK      
13      FGHIJ       
14     EFGHI        
15    DEFGH         
16   CDEFG          
17  BCDEF           
18 ABCDE            
19 ABCD            Q

Compare the pattern from my queries:

 31 ABCDE  
 47 ABCD F 
 55 ABC EF 
 59 AB DEF 
 61 A CDEF 
 62  BCDEF 
 79 ABCD  G
 87 ABC E G
 91 AB DE G
 93 A CDE G
 94  BCDE G
103 ABC  FG
107 AB D FG
109 A CD FG
110  BCD FG
115 AB  EFG
117 A C EFG
118  BC EFG
121 A  DEFG
...

Just to drive the bit-pattern -> index of combination thing home for anyone interested, notice that 31 in binary = 11111 and the pattern is ABCDE. 121 in binary is 1111001 and the pattern is A__DEFG (backwards mapped).

Performance Results With A Real Numbers Table

I ran some performance testing with big sets on my second query above. I do not have a record at this time of the server version used. Here's my test data:

DECLARE
   @k int,
   @n int;

DECLARE @set TABLE (value varchar(24));
INSERT @set VALUES ('A'),('B'),('C'),('D'),('E'),('F'),('G'),('H'),('I'),('J'),('K'),('L'),('M'),('N'),('O'),('P'),('Q');
SET @n = @@RowCount;
SET @k = 5;

DECLARE @combinations bigint = dbo.Factorial(@n) / (dbo.Factorial(@k) * dbo.Factorial(@n - @k));
SELECT CAST(@combinations as varchar(max)) + ' combinations', MaxNumUsedFromNumbersTable = POWER(2, @n);

Peter showed that this "vertical cross join" doesn't perform as well as simply writing dynamic SQL to actually do the CROSS JOINs it avoids. At the trivial cost of a few more reads, his solution has metrics between 10 and 17 times better. The performance of his query decreases faster than mine as the amount of work increases, but not fast enough to stop anyone from using it.

The second set of numbers below is the factor as divided by the first row in the table, just to show how it scales.

Erik

Items  CPU   Writes  Reads  Duration |  CPU  Writes  Reads Duration
----- ------ ------ ------- -------- | ----- ------ ------ --------
17•5    7344     0     3861    8531  |
18•9   17141     0     7748   18536  |   2.3          2.0      2.2
20•10  76657     0    34078   84614  |  10.4          8.8      9.9
21•11 163859     0    73426  176969  |  22.3         19.0     20.7
21•20 142172     0    71198  154441  |  19.4         18.4     18.1

Peter

Items  CPU   Writes  Reads  Duration |  CPU  Writes  Reads Duration
----- ------ ------ ------- -------- | ----- ------ ------ --------
17•5     422    70    10263     794  | 
18•9    6046   980   219180   11148  |  14.3   14.0   21.4    14.0
20•10  24422  4126   901172   46106  |  57.9   58.9   87.8    58.1
21•11  58266  8560  2295116  104210  | 138.1  122.3  223.6   131.3
21•20  51391     5  6291273   55169  | 121.8    0.1  613.0    69.5

Extrapolating, eventually my query will be cheaper (though it is from the start in reads), but not for a long time. To use 21 items in the set already requires a numbers table going up to 2097152...

Here is a comment I originally made before realizing that my solution would perform drastically better with an on-the-fly numbers table:

I love single-query solutions to problems like this, but if you're looking for the best performance, an actual cross-join is best, unless you start dealing with seriously huge numbers of combination. But what does anyone want with hundreds of thousands or even millions of rows? Even the growing number of reads don't seem too much of a problem, though 6 million is a lot and it's getting bigger fast...

Anyway. Dynamic SQL wins. I still had a beautiful query. :)

Performance Results with an On-The-Fly Numbers Table

When I originally wrote this answer, I said:

Note that you could use an on-the-fly numbers table, but I haven't tried it.

Well, I tried it, and the results were that it performed much better! Here is the query I used:

DECLARE @N int = 16, @K int = 12;

CREATE TABLE #Set (Value char(1) PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED);
CREATE TABLE #Items (Num int);
INSERT #Items VALUES (@K);
INSERT #Set 
SELECT TOP (@N) V
FROM
   (VALUES ('A'),('B'),('C'),('D'),('E'),('F'),('G'),('H'),('I'),('J'),('K'),('L'),('M'),('N'),('O'),('P'),('Q'),('R'),('S'),('T'),('U'),('V'),('W'),('X'),('Y'),('Z')) X (V);
GO
DECLARE
   @N int = (SELECT Count(*) FROM #Set),
   @K int = (SELECT TOP 1 Num FROM #Items);

DECLARE @combination int, @value char(1);
WITH L0 AS (SELECT 1 N UNION ALL SELECT 1),
L1 AS (SELECT 1 N FROM L0, L0 B),
L2 AS (SELECT 1 N FROM L1, L1 B),
L3 AS (SELECT 1 N FROM L2, L2 B),
L4 AS (SELECT 1 N FROM L3, L3 B),
L5 AS (SELECT 1 N FROM L4, L4 B),
Nums AS (SELECT Row_Number() OVER(ORDER BY (SELECT 1)) Num FROM L5),
Nums1 AS (
   SELECT Num, P1 = (Num & 0x55555555) + ((Num / 2) & 0x55555555)
   FROM Nums
   WHERE Num BETWEEN 0 AND Power(2, @N) - 1
), Nums2 AS (
   SELECT Num, P2 = (P1 & 0x33333333) + ((P1 / 4) & 0x33333333)
   FROM Nums1
), Nums3 AS (
   SELECT Num, P3 = (P2 & 0x0F0F0F0F) + ((P2 / 16) & 0x0F0F0F0F)
   FROM Nums2
), BaseSet AS (
   SELECT Ind = Power(2, Row_Number() OVER (ORDER BY Value) - 1), *
   FROM #Set
)
SELECT
   @Combination = N.Num,
   @Value = S.Value
FROM
   Nums3 N
   INNER JOIN BaseSet S
      ON N.Num & S.Ind <> 0
WHERE P3 % 255 = @K;

Note that I selected the values into variables to reduce the time and memory needed to test everything. The server still does all the same work. I modified Peter's version to be similar, and removed unnecessary extras so they were both as lean as possible. The server version used for these tests is Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (RTM) - 10.0.1600.22 (Intel X86) Standard Edition on Windows NT 5.2 <X86> (Build 3790: Service Pack 2) (VM) running on a VM.

Below are charts showing the performance curves for values of N and K up to 21. The base data for them is in another answer on this page. The values are the result of 5 runs of each query at each K and N value, followed by throwing out the best and worst values for each metric and averaging the remaining 3.

Basically, my version has a "shoulder" (in the leftmost corner of the chart) at high values of N and low values of K that make it perform worse there than the dynamic SQL version. However, this stays fairly low and constant, and the central peak around N = 21 and K = 11 is much lower for Duration, CPU, and Reads than the dynamic SQL version.

I included a chart of the number of rows each item is expected to return so you can see how the query performs stacked up against how big a job it has to do.

Generate all combinations in SQL

Generate all combinations in SQL

Generate all combinations in SQL

Generate all combinations in SQL

Please see my additional answer on this page for the complete performance results. I hit the post character limit and could not include it here. (Any ideas where else to put it?) To put things in perspective against my first version's performance results, here's the same format as before:

Erik

Items  CPU  Duration  Reads  Writes |  CPU  Duration  Reads 
----- ----- -------- ------- ------ | ----- -------- -------
17•5    354      378   12382      0 |
18•9   1849     1893   97246      0 |   5.2      5.0     7.9
20•10  7119     7357  369518      0 |  20.1     19.5    29.8
21•11 13531    13807  705438      0 |  38.2     36.5    57.0
21•20  3234     3295     48       0 |   9.1      8.7     0.0

Peter

Items  CPU  Duration  Reads  Writes |  CPU  Duration  Reads 
----- ----- -------- ------- ------ | ----- -------- -------
17•5     41       45    6433      0 | 
18•9   2051     1522  214021      0 |  50.0     33.8    33.3
20•10  8271     6685  864455      0 | 201.7    148.6   134.4
21•11 18823    15502 2097909      0 | 459.1    344.5   326.1
21•20 25688    17653 4195863      0 | 626.5    392.3   652.2

Conclusions

  • On-the-fly numbers tables are better than a real table containing rows, since reading one at huge rowcounts requires a lot of I/O. It is better to use a little CPU.
  • My initial tests weren't broad enough to really show the performance characteristics of the two versions.
  • Peter's version could be improved by making each JOIN not only be greater than the prior item, but also restrict the maximum value based on how many more items have to be fit into the set. For example, at 21 items taken 21 at a time, there is only one answer of 21 rows (all 21 items, one time), but the intermediate rowsets in the dynamic SQL version, early in the execution plan, contain combinations such as "AU" at step 2 even though this will be discarded at the next join since there is no value higher than "U" available. Similarly, an intermediate rowset at step 5 will contain "ARSTU" but the only valid combo at this point is "ABCDE". This improved version would not have a lower peak at the center, so possibly not improving it enough to become the clear winner, but it would at least become symmetrical so that the charts would not stay maxed past the middle of the region but would fall back to near 0 as my version does (see the top corner of the peaks for each query).

Duration Analysis

  • There is no really significant difference between the versions in duration (>100ms) until 14 items taken 12 at a time. Up to this point, my version wins 30 times and the dynamic SQL version wins 43 times.
  • Starting at 14•12, my version was faster 65 times (59 >100ms), the dynamic SQL version 64 times (60 >100ms). However, all the times my version was faster, it saved a total averaged duration of 256.5 seconds, and when the dynamic SQL version was faster, it saved 80.2 seconds.
  • The total averaged duration for all trials was Erik 270.3 seconds, Peter 446.2 seconds.
  • If a lookup table were created to determine which version to use (picking the faster one for the inputs), all the results could be performed in 188.7 seconds. Using the slowest one each time would take 527.7 seconds.

Reads Analysis

The duration analysis showed my query winning by significant but not overly large amount. When the metric is switched to reads, a very different picture emerges--my query uses on average 1/10th the reads.

  • There is no really significant difference between the versions in reads (>1000) until 9 items taken 9 at a time. Up to this point, my version wins 30 times and the dynamic SQL version wins 17 times.
  • Starting at 9•9, my version used fewer reads 118 times (113 >1000), the dynamic SQL version 69 times (31 >1000). However, all the times my version used fewer reads, it saved a total averaged 75.9M reads, and when the dynamic SQL version was faster, it saved 380K reads.
  • The total averaged reads for all trials was Erik 8.4M, Peter 84M.
  • If a lookup table were created to determine which version to use (picking the best one for the inputs), all the results could be performed in 8M reads. Using the worst one each time would take 84.3M reads.

I would be very interested to see the results of an updated dynamic SQL version that puts the extra upper limit on the items chosen at each step as I described above.

Addendum

The following version of my query achieves an improvement of about 2.25% over the performance results listed above. I used MIT's HAKMEM bit-counting method, and added a Convert(int) on the result of row_number() since it returns a bigint. Of course I wish this is the version I had used with for all the performance testing and charts and data above, but it is unlikely I will ever redo it as it was labor-intensive.

WITH L0 AS (SELECT 1 N UNION ALL SELECT 1),
L1 AS (SELECT 1 N FROM L0, L0 B),
L2 AS (SELECT 1 N FROM L1, L1 B),
L3 AS (SELECT 1 N FROM L2, L2 B),
L4 AS (SELECT 1 N FROM L3, L3 B),
L5 AS (SELECT 1 N FROM L4, L4 B),
Nums AS (SELECT Row_Number() OVER(ORDER BY (SELECT 1)) Num FROM L5),
Nums1 AS (
   SELECT Convert(int, Num) Num
   FROM Nums
   WHERE Num BETWEEN 1 AND Power(2, @N) - 1
), Nums2 AS (
   SELECT
      Num,
      P1 = Num - ((Num / 2) & 0xDB6DB6DB) - ((Num / 4) & 0x49249249)
   FROM Nums1
),
Nums3 AS (SELECT Num, Bits = ((P1 + P1 / 8) & 0xC71C71C7) % 63 FROM Nums2),
BaseSet AS (SELECT Ind = Power(2, Row_Number() OVER (ORDER BY Value) - 1), * FROM #Set)
SELECT
   N.Num,
   S.Value
FROM
   Nums3 N
   INNER JOIN BaseSet S
      ON N.Num & S.Ind <> 0
WHERE
   Bits = @K

And I could not resist showing one more version that does a lookup to get the count of bits. It may even be faster than other versions:

DECLARE @BitCounts binary(255) = 
   0x01010201020203010202030203030401020203020303040203030403040405
   + 0x0102020302030304020303040304040502030304030404050304040504050506
   + 0x0102020302030304020303040304040502030304030404050304040504050506
   + 0x0203030403040405030404050405050603040405040505060405050605060607
   + 0x0102020302030304020303040304040502030304030404050304040504050506
   + 0x0203030403040405030404050405050603040405040505060405050605060607
   + 0x0203030403040405030404050405050603040405040505060405050605060607
   + 0x0304040504050506040505060506060704050506050606070506060706070708;
WITH L0 AS (SELECT 1 N UNION ALL SELECT 1),
L1 AS (SELECT 1 N FROM L0, L0 B),
L2 AS (SELECT 1 N FROM L1, L1 B),
L3 AS (SELECT 1 N FROM L2, L2 B),
L4 AS (SELECT 1 N FROM L3, L3 B),
L5 AS (SELECT 1 N FROM L4, L4 B),
Nums AS (SELECT Row_Number() OVER(ORDER BY (SELECT 1)) Num FROM L5),
Nums1 AS (SELECT Convert(int, Num) Num FROM Nums WHERE Num BETWEEN 1 AND Power(2, @N) - 1),
BaseSet AS (SELECT Ind = Power(2, Row_Number() OVER (ORDER BY Value) - 1), * FROM ComboSet)
SELECT
   @Combination = N.Num,
   @Value = S.Value
FROM
   Nums1 N
   INNER JOIN BaseSet S
      ON N.Num & S.Ind <> 0
WHERE
   @K =
      Convert(int, Substring(@BitCounts, N.Num & 0xFF, 1))
      + Convert(int, Substring(@BitCounts, N.Num / 256 & 0xFF, 1))
      + Convert(int, Substring(@BitCounts, N.Num / 65536 & 0xFF, 1))
      + Convert(int, Substring(@BitCounts, N.Num / 16777216, 1))


Please forgive this extra answer. I ran into the post character limit in my original answer.

Here are the complete averaged numeric performance results for the charts in my answer.

      |             Erik             |             Peter
 N  K |  CPU  Duration Reads  Writes |  CPU  Duration  Reads  Writes
-- -- - ----- -------- ------ ------ - ----- -------- ------- ------
 1  1 |     0        0      7      0 |     0        0       7      0
 2  1 |     0        0     10      0 |     0        0       7      0
 2  2 |     0        0      7      0 |     0        0      11      0
 3  1 |     0        0     12      0 |     0        0       7      0
 3  2 |     0        0     12      0 |     0        0      13      0
 3  3 |     5        0      7      0 |     0        0      19      0
 4  1 |     0        0     14      0 |     0        0       7      0
 4  2 |     0        0     18      0 |     0        0      15      0
 4  3 |     0        0     14      0 |     5        0      27      0
 4  4 |     0        0      7      0 |     0        0      35      0
 5  1 |     5        0     16      0 |     5        0       7      0
 5  2 |     0        0     26      0 |     0        0      17      0
 5  3 |     0        0     26      0 |     0        0      37      0
 5  4 |     0        0     16      0 |     0        0      57      0
 5  5 |     0        0      7      0 |     0        0      67      0
 6  1 |     0        0     18      0 |     0        0       7      0
 6  2 |     5        0     36      0 |     0        0      19      0
 6  3 |     0        0     46      0 |     0        0      49      0
 6  4 |     0        0     36      0 |     0        0      89      0
 6  5 |     5        0     18      0 |     5        0     119      0
 6  6 |     0        0      7      0 |     0        0     131      0
 7  1 |     5        0     20      0 |     0        0       7      0
 7  2 |     0        0     48      0 |     0        0      21      0
 7  3 |     0        0     76      0 |     0        0      63      0
 7  4 |     0        0     76      0 |     0        0     133      0
 7  5 |     0        1     48      0 |     0        1     203      0
 7  6 |     5        0     20      0 |     0        1     245      0
 7  7 |     5        0      7      0 |     0        3     259      0
 8  1 |     5        2     22      0 |     0        4       7      0
 8  2 |     0        1     62      0 |     0        0      23      0
 8  3 |     0        1    118      0 |     0        0      79      0
 8  4 |     0        1    146      0 |     0        1     191      0
 8  5 |     5        3    118      0 |     0        1     331      0
 8  6 |     5        1     62      0 |     5        2     443      0
 8  7 |     0        0     22      0 |     5        3     499      0
 8  8 |     0        0      7      0 |     5        3     515      0
 9  1 |     0        2     24      0 |     0        0       7      0
 9  2 |     5        3     78      0 |     0        0      25      0
 9  3 |     5        3    174      0 |     0        1      97      0
 9  4 |     5        5    258      0 |     0        2     265      0
 9  5 |     5        7    258      0 |    10        4     517      0
 9  6 |     5        5    174      0 |     5        5     769      0
 9  7 |     0        3     78      0 |    10        4     937      0
 9  8 |     0        0     24      0 |     0        3    1009      0
 9  9 |     0        1      7      0 |     0        4    1027      0
10  1 |    10        4     26      0 |     0        0       7      0
10  2 |     5        5     96      0 |     0        0      27      0
10  3 |     5        2    246      0 |     0        0     117      0
10  4 |    10       10    426      0 |    10        4     357      0
10  5 |    15       12    510      0 |     5        8     777      0
10  6 |    15       16    426      0 |    10        9    1281      0
10  7 |    10        4    246      0 |    10        9    1701      0
10  8 |    10        5     96      0 |    10        5    1941      0
10  9 |     5        4     26      0 |    10        7    2031      0
10 10 |     5        0      7      0 |    10        7    2051      0
11  1 |    10        8     28      0 |     0        0       7      0
11  2 |    15       11    116      0 |     0        0      29      0
11  3 |    21       24    336      0 |    10        3     139      0
11  4 |    21       18    666      0 |     5        2     469      0
11  5 |    21       20    930      0 |     5        3    1129      0
11  6 |    26       35    930      0 |    15       12    2053      0
11  7 |    20       14    666      0 |     5       25    2977      0
11  8 |    15        9    336      0 |    20       14    3637      0
11  9 |    10        7    116      0 |    21       27    3967      0
11 10 |    10        8     28      0 |    36       34    4086      0
11 11 |     5        8      7      0 |    15       15    4109      0
12  1 |    16       18     30      0 |     5        0       7      0
12  2 |    31       32    138      0 |     0        0      31      0
12  3 |    31       26    446      0 |    10        2     163      0
12  4 |    47       40    996      0 |    10        7     603      0
12  5 |    47       46   1590      0 |    21       17    1593      0
12  6 |    57       53   1854      0 |    31       30    3177      0
12  7 |    41       39   1590      0 |    31       30    5025      0
12  8 |    41       42    996      0 |    42       43    6609      0
12  9 |    31       26    446      0 |    52       52    7607      0
12 10 |    20       19    138      0 |    57       62    8048      0
12 11 |    15       17     30      0 |    72       64    8181      0
12 12 |    15       10      7      0 |    67       38    8217      0
13  1 |    31       32     32      0 |     0        0       7      0
13  2 |    21       25    162      0 |     0        0      33      0
13  3 |    36       34    578      0 |     5        2     189      0
13  4 |    57       65   1436      0 |    10        5     761      0
13  5 |    41       40   2580      0 |    10       10    2191      0
13  6 |    62       56   3438      0 |    31       32    4765      0
13  7 |    62       62   3438      0 |    57       53    8251      0
13  8 |    52       64   2580      0 |    52       47   11710      0
13  9 |    26       28   1436      0 |    93       96   14311      0
13 10 |    31       29    578      0 |   161      104   15891      0
13 11 |    36       35    162      0 |   129       99   16525      0
13 12 |    21       22     32      0 |   156       96   16383      0
13 13 |    26       30      7      0 |   166       98   16411      0
14  1 |    57       53     34      0 |     0        0       7      0
14  2 |    52       50    188      0 |     0        0      35      0
14  3 |    57       60    734      0 |    10        4     217      0
14  4 |    78       76   2008      0 |    15        8     945      0
14  5 |    99       97   4010      0 |    36       34    2947      0
14  6 |   120      125   6012      0 |    41       47    6951      0
14  7 |   125      119   6870      0 |    93       94   12957      0
14  8 |   135      138   6012      0 |    88       98   19821      0
14  9 |    78      153   4010      0 |   234      156   26099      0
14 10 |    94       92   2008      0 |   229      133   30169      0
14 11 |    83       90    734      0 |   239      136   32237      0
14 12 |    47       46    188      0 |   281      176   33031      0
14 13 |    52       53     34      0 |   260      167   32767      0
14 14 |    46       47      7      0 |   203      149   32797      0
15  1 |    83       83     36      0 |     0        0       7      0
15  2 |   145      139    216      0 |     0        2      37      0
15  3 |   104       98    916      0 |     0        2     247      0
15  4 |   135      135   2736      0 |    15       17    1157      0
15  5 |    94       97   6012      0 |    26       27    3887      0
15  6 |   192      188  10016      0 |    57       53    9893      0
15  7 |   187      192  12876      0 |    73       73   19903      0
15  8 |   286      296  12876      0 |   338      230   33123      0
15  9 |   208      207  10016      0 |   354      223   46063      0
15 10 |   140      143   6012      0 |   443      334   56143      0
15 11 |    88       86   2736      0 |   391      273   62219      0
15 12 |    73       72    916      0 |   432      269   65019      0
15 13 |   109      117    216      0 |   317      210   65999      0
15 14 |   156      187     36      0 |   411      277   66279      0
15 15 |   140      142      7      0 |   354      209   65567      0
16  1 |   281      281     38      0 |     0        0       7      0
16  2 |   141      146    246      0 |     0        0      39      0
16  3 |   208      206   1126      0 |    10        4     279      0
16  4 |   187      189   3646      0 |    15       13    1399      0
16  5 |   234      234   8742      0 |    42       42    5039      0
16  6 |   333      337  16022      0 |    83       85   13775      0
16  7 |   672      742  22886      0 |   395      235   30087      0
16  8 |   510      510  25746      0 |   479      305   53041      0
16  9 |   672      675  22886      0 |   671      489   78855      0
16 10 |   489      492  16022      0 |   859      578  101809      0
16 11 |   250      258   8742      0 |   719      487  117899      0
16 12 |   198      202   3646      0 |   745      483  126709      0
16 13 |   119      119   1126      0 |   770      506  130423      0
16 14 |   291      327    246      0 |   770      531  131617      0
16 15 |   156      156     38      0 |   713      451  131931      0
16 16 |   125      139      7      0 |   895      631  132037      0
17  1 |   406      437     40      0 |     0        0       7      0
17  2 |   307      320    278      0 |     0        0      41      0
17  3 |   281      290   1366      0 |     0        3     313      0
17  4 |   307      317   4766      0 |    31       28    1673      0
17  5 |   354      378  12382      0 |    41       45    6433      0
17  6 |   583      582  24758      0 |   130      127   18809      0
17  7 |   839      859  38902      0 |   693      449   43873      0
17  8 |  1177     1183  48626      0 |   916      679   82847      0
17  9 |  1031     1054  48626      0 |  1270      944  131545      0
17 10 |   828      832  38902      0 |  1469     1105  180243      0
17 11 |   672      668  24758      0 |  1535     1114  219217      0
17 12 |   422      422  12382      0 |  1494      991  244047      0
17 13 |   474      482   4766      0 |  1615     1165  256501      0
17 14 |   599      607   1366      0 |  1500     1042  261339      0
17 15 |   223      218    278      0 |  1401     1065  262777      0
17 16 |   229      228     40      0 |  1390      918  263127      0
17 17 |   541      554      7      0 |  1562     1045  263239      0
18  1 |   401      405     42      0 |     0        0       7      0
18  2 |   401      397    312      0 |     0        0      43      0
18  3 |   458      493   1638      0 |     5        6     349      0
18  4 |   583      581   6126      0 |    16       13    1981      0
18  5 |   697      700  17142      0 |    83      130    8101      0
18  6 |   792      799  37134      0 |   156      162   25237      0
18  7 |  1672     1727  63654      0 |  1098      751   62693      0
18  8 |  1598     1601  87522      0 |  1416     1007  126423      0
18  9 |  1849     1893  97246      0 |  2051     1522  214021      0
18 10 |  1963     2083  87522      0 |  2734     2103  311343      0
18 11 |  1411     1428  63654      0 |  2849     2352  398941      0
18 12 |  1042     1048  37134      0 |  3021     2332  462671      0
18 13 |   942      985  17142      0 |  3036     2314  499881      0
18 14 |   656      666   6126      0 |  3052     2177  517099      0
18 15 |   526      532   1638      0 |  2910     2021  523301      0
18 16 |   614      621    312      0 |  3083     2108  525015      0
18 17 |   536      551     42      0 |  2921     2031  525403      0
18 18 |   682      680      7      0 |  3141     2098  525521      0
19  1 |   885      909     44      0 |     0        0       7      0
19  2 |  1411     1498    348      0 |     0        0      45      0
19  3 |   880      887   1944      0 |     5        4     387      0
19  4 |  1119     1139   7758      0 |    26       25    2325      0
19  5 |  1120     1127  23262      0 |    73       72   10077      0
19  6 |  1395     1462  54270      0 |   453      387   33591      0
19  7 |  1875     1929 100782      0 |  1197      838   87941      0
19  8 |  2656     2723 151170      0 |  2255     1616  188803      0
19  9 |  3046     3092 184762      0 |  3317     2568  340053      0
19 10 |  3635     3803 184762      0 |  5171     4041  524895      0
19 11 |  2739     2774 151170      0 |  5577     4574  709737      0
19 12 |  3203     3348 100782      0 |  6182     5194  860987      0
19 13 |  1672     1750  54270      0 |  6458     5561  961849      0
19 14 |  1760     1835  23262      0 |  6177     4964 1016199      0
19 15 |   968     1006   7758      0 |  6266     4331 1039541      0
19 16 |  1099     1134   1944      0 |  6208     4254 1047379      0
19 17 |   995     1037    348      0 |  6385     4366 1049403      0
19 18 |   916      964     44      0 |  6036     4268 1049831      0
19 19 |  1135     1138      7      0 |  6234     4320 1049955      0
20  1 |  1797     1821     46      0 |     0        0       7      0
20  2 |  2000     2029    386      0 |     0        0      47      0
20  3 |  2031     2071   2286      0 |    10        6     427      0
20  4 |  1942     2036   9696      0 |    31       34    2707      0
20  5 |  2104     2161  31014      0 |    88       85   12397      0
20  6 |  2880     2958  77526      0 |   860      554   43675      0
20  7 |  3791     3940 155046      0 |  2026     1405  121285      0
20  8 |  5130     5307 251946      0 |  3823     2731  276415      0
20  9 |  6547     6845 335926      0 |  5380     4148  528445      0
20 10 |  7119     7357 369518      0 |  8271     6685  864455      0
20 11 |  5692     5803 335926      0 |  9557     8029 1234057      0
20 12 |  4734     4850 251946      0 | 11114     9504 1570067      0
20 13 |  3604     3641 155046      0 | 11551    10434 1822097      0
20 14 |  2911     2999  77526      0 | 12317    10822 1977227      0
20 15 |  2115     2134  31014      0 | 12806    10679 2054837      0
20 16 |  2041     2095   9696      0 | 13062     9115 2085935      0
20 17 |  2390     2465   2286      0 | 12807     9002 2095715      0
20 18 |  1765     1788    386      0 | 12598     8601 2098085      0
20 19 |  2067     2143     46      0 | 12578     8626 2098555      0
20 20 |  1640     1663      7      0 | 12932     9064 2098685      0
21  1 |  3374     3425     48      0 |     0        0       7      0
21  2 |  4031     4157    426      0 |     0        1      49      0
21  3 |  3218     3250   2666      0 |    10        5     469      0
21  4 |  3687     3734  11976      0 |    21       25    3129      0
21  5 |  3692     3735  40704      0 |   115      114   15099      0
21  6 |  4859     4943 108534      0 |   963      661   56079      0
21  7 |  6114     6218 232566      0 |  2620     1880  164701      0
21  8 |  8573     8745 406986      0 |  4999     3693  397355      0
21  9 | 11880    12186 587866      0 |  9047     6863  804429      0
21 10 | 13255    13582 705438      0 | 14358    11436 1392383      0
21 11 | 13531    13807 705438      0 | 18823    15502 2097909      0
21 12 | 12244    12400 587866      0 | 21834    18760 2803435      0
21 13 |  9406     9528 406986      0 | 23771    21274 3391389      0
21 14 |  7114     7180 232566      0 | 26677    24296 3798463      0
21 15 |  4869     4961 108534      0 | 26479    23998 4031117      0
21 16 |  4416     4521  40704      0 | 26536    22976 4139739      0
21 17 |  4380     4443  11976      0 | 26490    19107 4180531      0
21 18 |  3265     3334   2666      0 | 25979    17995 4192595      0
21 19 |  3640     3768    426      0 | 26186    17891 4195349      0
21 20 |  3234     3295     48      0 | 25688    17653 4195863      0
21 21 |  3156     3219      7      0 | 26140    17838 4195999      0


The CUBE extension to a group by clause represents all combinations of the given list. E.g, the following will give all 3-combinations of a 4-element set.

select concat(a,b,c,d)
from (select 'a','b','c','d') as t(a,b,c,d)
group by cube(a,b,c,d)
having len(concat(a,b,c,d)) = 3


How about some dynamic SQL?

DECLARE @k int = 5, @n INT

IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#set') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE #set
CREATE TABLE #set ( [value] varchar(24) )
INSERT #set VALUES ('1'),('2'),('3'),('4'),('5'),('6')
SET @n = @@ROWCOUNT

SELECT dbo.Factorial(@n) / (dbo.Factorial(@k) * dbo.Factorial(@n - @k)) AS [expected combinations]

-- let's generate some sql.
DECLARE 
  @crlf     NCHAR(2) = NCHAR(13)+NCHAR(10)
, @sql      NVARCHAR(MAX)
, @select   NVARCHAR(MAX)
, @from     NVARCHAR(MAX)
, @order    NVARCHAR(MAX)
, @in       NVARCHAR(MAX)

DECLARE @j INT = 0
WHILE @j < @k BEGIN 
  SET @j += 1
  IF @j = 1 BEGIN
    SET @select = 'SELECT'+@crlf+'  _1.value AS [1]'
    SET @from   = @crlf+'FROM #set AS _1'
    SET @order  = 'ORDER BY _1.value'
    SET @in     = '[1]'
  END 
  ELSE BEGIN
    SET @select += @crlf+', _'+CONVERT(VARCHAR,@j)+'.value AS ['+CONVERT(VARCHAR,@j)+']'
    SET @from   += @crlf+'INNER JOIN #set AS _'+CONVERT(VARCHAR,@j)+' ON _'+CONVERT(VARCHAR,@j)+'.value > _'+CONVERT(VARCHAR,@j-1)+'.value'
    SET @order  += ', _'+CONVERT(VARCHAR,@j)+'.value' 
    SET @in     += ', ['+CONVERT(VARCHAR,@j)+']'
  END
END
SET @select += @crlf+', ROW_NUMBER() OVER ('+@order+') AS combination'
SET @sql = @select + @from

-- let's see how it looks
PRINT @sql
EXEC (@sql)

-- ok, now dump pivot and dump into a table for later use
IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#combinations') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE #combinations
CREATE TABLE #combinations (
  combination INT
, value VARCHAR(24)
, PRIMARY KEY (combination, value)
)

SET @sql 
= 'WITH CTE AS ('+@crlf+@sql+@crlf+')'+@crlf
+ 'INSERT #combinations (combination, value)'+@crlf
+ 'SELECT combination, value FROM CTE a'+@crlf
+ 'UNPIVOT (value FOR position IN ('+@in+')) AS b'

PRINT @sql
EXEC (@sql)

SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT combination) AS [returned combinations] FROM #combinations
SELECT * FROM #combinations

Generates the following query for @k = 5:

SELECT
  _1.value AS [1]
, _2.value AS [2]
, _3.value AS [3]
, _4.value AS [4]
, _5.value AS [5]
, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY _1.value, _2.value, _3.value, _4.value, _5.value) AS combination
FROM #set AS _1
INNER JOIN #set AS _2 ON _2.value > _1.value
INNER JOIN #set AS _3 ON _3.value > _2.value
INNER JOIN #set AS _4 ON _4.value > _3.value
INNER JOIN #set AS _5 ON _5.value > _4.value

Which it then unpivots and dumps into a table.

The dynamic SQL is ugly, and you can't wrap it in a UDF, but the query produced is very efficient.


First create this UDF...

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[_ex_fn_SplitToTable] (@str varchar(5000), @sep char(1) = null)                           

RETURNS @ReturnVal table (n int, s varchar(5000))                           

AS                          
/*                          
Alpha Test                          
-----------                         
select * from [dbo].[_ex_fn_SplitToTable_test01]('abcde','')                            
*/                          

BEGIN                           
    declare @str2 varchar(5000)                     
    declare @sep2 char(1)                       
    if LEN(ISNULL(@sep,'')) = 0                     
    begin                       
        declare @i int                  
        set @i = 0                  

        set @str2 = ''                  
        declare @char varchar(1)                    
        startloop:                  
            set @i += 1             
            --print @i              
            set @char = substring(@str,@i,1)                
            set @str2 = @str2 + @char + ','             
            if LEN(@str) <= @i              
                goto exitloop           
            goto startloop              
        exitloop:                   
        set @str2 = left(@str2,LEN(@str2) - 1)                  
        set @sep2 = ','                 
        --print @str2                   

    end                         
    else                        
    begin                       
        set @str2 = @str                    
        set @sep2 = @sep                    
    end                     

    ;WITH Pieces(n, start, stop) AS (                           

      SELECT 1, 1, CHARINDEX(@sep2, @str2)                          

      UNION ALL                             

      SELECT n + 1, stop + 1, CHARINDEX(@sep2, @str2, stop + 1)                             

      FROM Pieces                           

      WHERE stop > 0                            

    )                           

    insert into @ReturnVal(n,s)                             
    SELECT n,                           
      SUBSTRING(@str2, start, CASE WHEN stop > 0 THEN stop-start ELSE 5000 END) AS s                            
    FROM Pieces option (maxrecursion 32767)                             


    RETURN                          

END                         



GO                          

Then create this stored proc...

CREATE proc [CombinationsOfString]                          
(                           
    @mystring varchar(max) = '0,5,10,15,20,25'                      
)                           
as                          

/*                          
ALPHA TEST                          
---------                           
exec CombinationsOfString '-20,-10,0,10,20'                         
*/                          
if object_id('tempdb..#_201606070947_myorig') is not null drop table #_201606070947_myorig                          

CREATE TABLE #_201606070947_myorig                          
 (                          
   SourceId  int      not null  identity(1,1)                           
  ,Element   varchar(100)  not null                         
 )                          
insert into #_201606070947_myorig                           
select s from dbo._ex_fn_SplitToTable(@mystring,',')                            

--select SourceId, Element from #_201606070947_myorig                           

declare @mynumerics varchar(max)                            

set @mynumerics = (                         
    select STUFF(REPLACE((SELECT '#!' + LTRIM(RTRIM(SourceId)) AS 'data()'                      
    FROM #_201606070947_myorig                      
    FOR XML PATH('')),' #!',', '), 1, 2, '') as Brands                      
)                           

set @mynumerics = REPLACE(@mynumerics,' ','')                           

print @mynumerics                           

if object_id('tempdb..#_201606070947_source') is not null drop table #_201606070947_source                          
if object_id('tempdb..#_201606070947_numbers') is not null drop table #_201606070947_numbers                            
if object_id('tempdb..#_201606070947_results') is not null drop table #_201606070947_results                            
if object_id('tempdb..#_201606070947_processed') is not null drop table #_201606070947_processed                            



CREATE TABLE #_201606070947_source                          
 (                          
   SourceId  int      not null  identity(1,1)                           
  ,Element   char(1)  not null                          
 )                          

--declare @mynumerics varchar(max)                          
--set @mynumerics = '1,2,3,4,5'                         
insert into #_201606070947_source                           
select s from dbo._ex_fn_SplitToTable(@mynumerics,',')                          

-- select * from #_201606070947_source                          

declare @Length int                         
set @Length = (select max(SourceId) from #_201606070947_source)                         
declare @columnstring varchar(max) = (SELECT REPLICATE('c.',@Length))                           
print @columnstring                         
declare @subs varchar(max) = (SELECT REPLICATE('substring.',@Length))                           
print @subs                         

if object_id('tempdb..#_201606070947_columns') is not null drop table #_201606070947_columns                            

select s+CONVERT(varchar,dbo.PadLeft(convert(varchar,n),'0',3)) cols                            
into #_201606070947_columns                         
from [dbo].[_ex_fn_SplitToTable](@columnstring,'.') where LEN(s) > 0                            

if object_id('tempdb..#_201606070947_subcolumns') is not null drop table #_201606070947_subcolumns                          
select s+'(Combo,'+CONVERT(varchar,n)+',1) ' + 'c'+CONVERT(varchar,dbo.PadLeft(convert(varchar,n),'0',3)) cols                          
into #_201606070947_subcolumns                          
from [dbo].[_ex_fn_SplitToTable](@subs,'.') where LEN(s) > 0                            

-- select * from #_201606070947_subcolumns                          
-- select * from #_201606070947_columns                         


declare @columns_sql varchar(max)                           
set @columns_sql =                          
        (                   
            select distinct                 
              stuff((SELECT distinct + cast(cols as varchar(50)) +  ' VARCHAR(1), '             
                       FROM (       
                        select cols 
                        from #_201606070947_columns     
                        ) t2    
                       --where t2.n = t1.n      
                       FOR XML PATH('')),3,0,'')        
            from (              
                select cols         
                from #_201606070947_columns             
                ) t1            
        )                   

declare @substring_sql varchar(max)                         
set @substring_sql =                            
        (                   
            select distinct                 
              stuff((SELECT distinct + cast(cols as varchar(100)) +  ', '               
                       FROM (       
                        select cols 
                        from #_201606070947_subcolumns  
                        ) t2    
                       --where t2.n = t1.n      
                       FOR XML PATH('')),3,0,'')        
            from (              
                select cols         
                from #_201606070947_subcolumns          
                ) t1            
        )                   
set @substring_sql = left(@substring_sql,LEN(@substring_sql) - 1)                           
print @substring_sql                            

set @columns_sql = LEFT(@columns_sql,LEN(@columns_sql) - 1)                         
--SELECT @columns_sql                           
declare @sql varchar(max)                           
set @sql = 'if object_id(''tempdb..##_201606070947_01'') is not null drop table ##_201606070947_01 create table ##_201606070947_01 (rowid int,' + @columns_sql + ')'                            
print @sql                          
execute(@sql)                           

CREATE TABLE #_201606070947_numbers (Number int not null)                           

insert into #_201606070947_numbers                          
select SourceId from #_201606070947_source                          

CREATE TABLE #_201606070947_results                         
 (                          
   Combo   varchar(10)  not null                            
  ,Length  int          not null                            
 )                          

 SET NOCOUNT on                         

DECLARE                         
  @Loop     int                         
 ,@MaxLoop  int                         


--  How many elements there are to process                          
SELECT @MaxLoop = max(SourceId)                         
 from #_201606070947_source                         


--  Initialize first value                          
TRUNCATE TABLE #_201606070947_results                           
INSERT #_201606070947_results (Combo, Length)                           
 select Element, 1                          
  from #_201606070947_source                            
  where SourceId = 1                            

SET @Loop = 2                           

--  Iterate to add each Element after the first                         
WHILE @Loop <= @MaxLoop                         
 BEGIN                          

    INSERT #_201606070947_results (Combo, Length)                       
     select distinct                        
        left(re.Combo, @Loop - nm.Number)                   
        + so.Element                    
        + RIGHT(re.Combo, nm.Number - 1)                    
       ,@Loop                       
      from #_201606070947_results re                        
       inner join #_201606070947_numbers nm                     
        on nm.Number <= @Loop                   
       inner join #_201606070947_source so                      
        on so.SourceId = @Loop                  
      where re.Length = @Loop - 1                       

    SET @Loop = @Loop + 1                       
 END                            
-- select * from #_201606070947_results                         
--  Show #_201606070947_results                         
SELECT *                            
into #_201606070947_processed                           
 from #_201606070947_results                            
 where Length = @MaxLoop                            
 order by Combo                         



-- select * from #_201606070947_processed                           
set @sql = 'if object_id(''tempdb..##_201606070947_02'') is not null drop table ##_201606070947_02 '                            
print @sql                          
execute(@sql)                           

set @sql = ' ' +                            
'  SELECT ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY Combo Asc) AS RowID,' + @substring_sql +                           
'  into ##_201606070947_02 ' +                          
' FROM #_201606070947_processed ' +                         
' '                         
PRINT @sql                          
execute(@sql)                           

declare @columns_sql_new varchar(max)                           
set @columns_sql_new = REPLACE(@columns_sql,'(1)','(100)')                          
set @sql = 'if object_id(''tempdb..##_201606070947_03'') is not null drop table ##_201606070947_03 create table ##_201606070947_03 (RowId int,' + @columns_sql_new + ')'                            
PRINT @sql                          
execute(@sql)                           

insert into ##_201606070947_03 (RowId)                          
select RowId from ##_201606070947_02                            

--select * from ##_201606070947_03                          




DECLARE @ColumnId varchar(10)                           
DECLARE @getColumnId CURSOR                         
SET @getColumnId = CURSOR FOR                           
    select cols ColumnId from #_201606070947_columns                        
OPEN @getColumnId                           
FETCH NEXT                          
FROM @getColumnId INTO @ColumnId                            
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0                            
BEGIN                           
    PRINT @ColumnId                     
    set @sql = ' ' +                        
    ' update ##_201606070947_03                         
      set ' + @ColumnId + ' = B.Element                         
      from ##_201606070947_03 A                         
      , (                       

            select A.RowID, B.*             
            from                
            (               
                select * from ##_201606070947_02            
            ) A             
            ,               
            (               
                select * from #_201606070947_myorig         
            ) B             
            where A.' + @ColumnId + ' = B.SourceId              
        ) B                 
       where A.RowId = B.RowId                      
    '                       
    execute(@sql)                       
    print @sql                      

FETCH NEXT                          
FROM @getColumnId INTO @ColumnId                            
END                         
 CLOSE @getColumnId                         
DEALLOCATE @getColumnId                         

select * from ##_201606070947_03                            


I ran across another technique for calculating combinations, and it is so simple. In a public SQL challenge, it also soundly beat my own attempt based on the same bit-pattern technique as in my (currently) accepted answer. Though I admit I didn't play with it super long, or grab my best solution from here and adapt, but I wrote it over again.

Anyway, I was sure I had taken myself down a peg--here I was thinking I'd hit on something very cool but later found out my solution was easily surpassed. But to my surprise, when I tried the technique out, it was worse than the best method above. It is here for reference due to its easiness to implement and its reasonable performance for small jobs (thus making it superior except when the job may demand the added complexity of something like the bit-pattern technique).

Given a table #Set with the same number of rows as the items being selected from, and variable @K for the number of items taken at a time, here is that method:

WITH Chains AS (
   SELECT
      Generation = 1,
      Chain = Convert(varchar(1000),'|' + Value + '|'),
      Value
   FROM
      #Set
   WHERE
      @K > 0
      AND value <= ALL (
         SELECT TOP (@K) Value
         FROM #Set
         ORDER BY Value DESC
      )
   UNION ALL
   SELECT
      C.Generation + 1,
      Convert(varchar(1000), C.Chain + S.Value + '|'),
      S.Value
   FROM
      Chains C
      INNER JOIN #Set S
         ON C.Value < S.Value
   WHERE
      C.Generation <= @K
)
SELECT
   C.Chain,
   S.Value
FROM
   Chains C
   INNER JOIN #Set S
      ON C.Chain LIKE '%|' + S.Value + '|%'
WHERE
   Generation = @K;
0

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