Power Set P(S) of a set S is the set of all subsets of S. For example S = {a, b, c} then P(s) = {{}, {a}, {b}, {c}, {a,b}, {a, c}, {b, c}, {a, b, c}}. If S has n elements in it then P(s) will have 2n elements
Examples
Input: s = "ab"
Output: "", "a", "b", "ab"
Explanation: The power set of "ab" includes all possible subsets: empty set, single characters, and full string.
Input: s = "abc"
Output: "", "a", "b", "c", "ab", "bc", "ac", "abc"
Explanation: The power set of "abc" includes all subsets formed by choosing any combination of its characters.
Input: s = "a"
Output: "", "a"
Explanation: The power set of "a" consists of the empty set and the single character itself.
Approach: By Using Binary Representation of Numbers from 0 to 2^n - 1
For a given set[] S, the power set can be found by generating all binary numbers between 0 and 2n-1, where n is the size of the set.
Set = [a,b,c]
power_set_size = pow(2, 3) = 8
Run for binary counter = 000 to 111. We consider a when the last bit is set and do not consider if the last bit is not set. We do the same thing for b and second bit, and for c and first bit.
Value of Counter Subset
000 -> Empty set
001 -> a
010 -> b
011 -> ab
100 -> c
101 -> ac
110 -> bc
111 -> abc
Detailed Steps:
- Get the size of power set
- powet_set_size = pow(2, set_size)
- Loop for counter from 0 to pow_set_size
- Loop for i = 0 to set_size
- If ith bit in counter is set. Print ith element from set for this subset
- Print separator for subsets i.e., newline
C++
// C++ program to find the power set using
// binary representation of a number.
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
vector<string> allPossibleStrings(string &s) {
int n = s.size();
vector<string> res;
// Iterate through all subsets (represented by 0 to 2^n - 1)
for (int i = 0; i < (1 << n); i++) {
string sub = "";
for (int j = 0; j < n; j++) {
if (i & (1 << j)) sub += s[j];
}
res.push_back(sub);
}
return res;
}
int main() {
string s = "abc";
vector<string> subsets = allPossibleStrings(s);
for (string sub : subsets) cout << sub << endl;
return 0;
}
Java
// Java program to find the power set using
// binary representation of a number.
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
class GfG {
static List<String> AllPossibleStrings(String s)
{
int n = s.length();
List<String> res = new ArrayList<>();
// Iterate through all subsets (represented by 0 to
// 2^n - 1)
for (int i = 0; i < (1 << n); i++) {
StringBuilder sub = new StringBuilder();
for (int j = 0; j < n; j++) {
// Check if the j-th bit is set in i
if ((i & (1 << j)) != 0) {
sub.append(s.charAt(j));
}
}
res.add(sub.toString()); // Add the subset to
// the result
}
return res;
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{
String s = "abc";
List<String> subsets = AllPossibleStrings(s);
// Print all subsets
for (String sub : subsets) {
System.out.println(sub);
}
}
}
Python
# Python program to find the power set using
# binary representation of a number.
def allPossibleStrings(s):
n = len(s)
result = []
# Iterate through all subsets (represented by 0 to 2^n - 1)
for i in range(1 << n):
subset = ""
for j in range(n):
# Check if the j-th bit is set in i
if i & (1 << j):
subset += s[j]
# Add the subset to the result
result.append(subset)
return result
if __name__ == "__main__":
s = "abc"
subsets = allPossibleStrings(s)
for subset in subsets:
print(subset)
C#
// C# program to find the power set using
// binary representation of a number.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
class GfG {
static List<string> allPossibleStrings(string s) {
int n = s.Length;
List<string> result = new List<string>();
// Iterate through all subsets (represented by 0 to
// 2^n - 1)
for (int i = 0; i < (1 << n); i++) {
string subset = "";
for (int j = 0; j < n; j++) {
// Check if the j-th bit is set in i
if ((i & (1 << j)) != 0) {
subset += s[j];
}
}
result.Add(subset);
}
return result;
}
static void Main(string[] args) {
string s = "abc";
List<string> subsets = allPossibleStrings(s);
foreach(string subset in subsets) {
Console.WriteLine(subset);
}
}
}
JavaScript
// JavaScript program to find the power set using
// binary representation of a number.
function allPossibleStrings(s) {
const n = s.length;
const result = [];
// Iterate through all subsets (represented by 0 to 2^n
// - 1)
for (let i = 0; i < (1 << n);
i++) {
let subset = "";
for (let j = 0; j < n; j++) {
// Check if the j-th bit is set in i
if (i & (1 << j)) {
subset += s[j];
}
}
result.push(subset);
}
return result;
}
const s = "abc";
const subsets = allPossibleStrings(s);
subsets.forEach(subset => console.log(subset));
Time Complexity: O(n * 2n)
Auxiliary Space: O(1)
Approach: Power set using Previous Permutation
We can generate power set using previous permutation. In auxiliary array of bool set all elements to 0. That represent an empty set.
- Set first element of auxiliary array to 1 and generate all permutations to produce all subsets with one element.
- Then set the second element to 1 which will produce all subsets with two elements, repeat until all elements are included.
C++
// C++ program to find the power set using
// prev_permutation
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
vector<string> allPossibleStrings(string &s) {
int n = s.size();
vector<string> res;
// Initialize a boolean array to represent
// the inclusion of each character
// Initially, no character is included
vector<bool> contain(n, false);
// Print the empty subset (which is always
// part of the power set)
res.push_back("");
// Loop through all possible combinations of
// characters
for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
// Generate the combinations of size 'i'
// using prev_permutation
fill(contain.begin(), contain.end(), false);
for (int j = 0; j < i; j++) {
// Mark the first 'i' elements to be included
contain[j] = true;
}
do {
string subset = "";
for (int j = 0; j < n; j++) {
if (contain[j]) {
// Add the character to the subset if it's marked
subset += s[j];
}
}
// Add the subset to the result
res.push_back(subset);
} while (prev_permutation(contain.begin(), contain.end()));
}
return res;
}
int main() {
string s = "abc";
vector<string> subsets = allPossibleStrings(s);
for (const string &sub : subsets) {
cout << sub << endl;
}
return 0;
}
Java
// Java program to find the power set using
// prev_permutation
import java.util.*;
class GfG {
static List<String> allPossibleStrings(String s) {
int n = s.length();
List<String> res = new ArrayList<>();
// Iterate through all subsets (represented by 0 to
// 2^n - 1)
for (int i = 0; i < (1 << n); i++) {
StringBuilder subset = new StringBuilder();
for (int j = 0; j < n; j++) {
// If the j-th bit is set in i, include the
// j-th character from s
if ((i & (1 << j)) != 0) {
subset.append(s.charAt(j));
}
}
res.add(subset.toString());
}
return res;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
String s = "abc";
List<String> subsets = allPossibleStrings(s);
for (String subset : subsets) {
System.out.println(subset);
}
}
}
Python
# Python program to find the power set using
# prev_permutation'
def allPossibleStrings(s):
n = len(s)
result = []
# Iterate through all subsets (represented
# by 0 to 2^n - 1)
# 1 << n is equivalent to 2^n
for i in range(1 << n):
subset = ""
for j in range(n):
# If the j-th bit is set in i, include
# the j-th character from s
if i & (1 << j):
subset += s[j]
result.append(subset)
return result
if __name__ == "__main__":
s = "abc"
subsets = allPossibleStrings(s)
for subset in subsets:
print(subset)
C#
// C# program to find the power set using
// prev_permutation
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
class GfG {
static List<string> allPossibleStrings(string s) {
int n = s.Length;
List<string> result = new List<string>();
// Iterate through all subsets (represented by 0 to
// 2^n - 1)
for (int i = 0; i < (1 << n);
i++) {
string subset = "";
for (int j = 0; j < n; j++) {
// If the j-th bit is set in i, include the
// j-th character from s
if ((i & (1 << j)) != 0) {
subset += s[j];
}
}
result.Add(subset);
}
return result;
}
static void Main(string[] args) {
string s = "abc";
List<string> subsets = allPossibleStrings(s);
foreach(string subset in subsets) {
Console.WriteLine(subset);
}
}
}
JavaScript
// JavaScript program to find the power set using
// prev_permutation
function allPossibleStrings(s) {
const n = s.length;
const result = [];
// Iterate through all subsets (represented by 0 to 2^n
// - 1)
for (let i = 0; i < (1 << n);
i++) {
let subset = [];
for (let j = 0; j < n; j++) {
// If the j-th bit is set in i, include the j-th
// character from s
if ((i & (1 << j)) !== 0) {
subset.push(s[j]);
}
}
result.push(subset.join(""));
}
return result;
}
const s = "abc";
const subsets = allPossibleStrings(s);
subsets.forEach(subset => { console.log(subset); });
Time Complexity: O(n * 2n)
Auxiliary Space: O(n)
Related article:
Recursive program to generate power set
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