perm.py

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

from itertools import product


def diff(l1, l2):
    if len(l1) != len(l2):
        return 1000000

    diff = 0
    for a, b in zip(l1, l2):
        if a != b:
            diff += 1
    return diff


cards = [u'Hjerter', u'Ruter', u'Spar', u'Kløver']

perms = list(product(cards, repeat=len(cards)))


def get_from_list(perms, index=0):
    perm = perms.pop(index)
    ordered = [perm]
    if len(perms) == 0:
        return ordered
    min_diff = min([diff(perm, el) for el in perms])
    next_idx = next(i for i, perm2 in enumerate(perms) if diff(perm, perm2) == min_diff)
    return ordered + get_from_list(perms, next_idx)


for perm in reversed(get_from_list(perms)):
    print '%s - %s - %s - %s' % perm