How to get all possible combos from five columns

[dcu5001]

Hi Guys,

I'm new here, so I hope I'm posting this in the right place. Basically what I'm trying to do is take 5 different columns, all of which have an "X" or an "O" flag, and determine all of the unique combinations. I'm pretty sure there are going to be 120 unique combinations (by using 5!). I did some searching online and found some various macros, but nothing that fit exactly what I'm trying to do. Below is rough outline of what I'm hoping to achieve:

Column A Column B Column C Column D Column E
O O O O X
O O O X X
O O X X X
etc., etc., etc.

Hope this makes sense - if anyone could point me in the right direction with figuring out this problem that would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[Jdevil]

Actually, there are 2^5 = 32 combinations.
(sorry I can't help more for now just wanted to point it out)

[dcu5001]

Ah okay. Originally I thought it was 5^2, and then someone else thought it was 5!, and I was messing around with some VBA that was yielding 120 results. Either way, do you know a way to generate/automate all of these combos?

[Aardigspook]

No need for a macro, just continue to do the pattern you did, filling in one X, then two Xs, etc. You'll find there are 32 combinations (2^5 = 2*2*2*2*2).

Edit - beaten to it.

Regards,
Aardigspook

If your problem is solved, please go to 'Thread Tools' above your first post and 'Mark Thread as Solved'.
You don't need to give me rep if I helped, but thanks are appreciated.

[dcu5001]

That's an option for sure, but I was hoping for a more expedited/scalable option. If I had to re-run a similar project but with 10 columns then writing out all of the combinations manually wouldn't really be feasible.

[dcu5001]

I was able to find the answer using the following site in case anyone is curious - http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1...ion-of-a-range