how to ignore the first match of a result when generating the combination of K elements in a list in prolog?

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how to ignore the first match of a result when generating the combination of K elements in a list in prolog ?
%here is the code.

combination(0,_,[]).
combination(N,[X|T],[X|Comb]):-N>0,N1 is N-1,combination(N1,T,Comb).
combination(N,[_|T],Comb):-N>0,combination(N,T,Comb).

?- combination(3,[3,8,9,10,12,14],S).

%result will be.
S = [3, 8, 9] ;
S = [3, 8, 10] ;
S = [3, 8, 12] ;
S = [3, 8, 14] ;
S = [3, 9, 10] ;
S = [3, 9, 12] ;
S = [3, 9, 14] ;
S = [3, 10, 12] ;
S = [3, 10, 14] ;
S = [3, 12, 14] ;
S = [8, 9, 10] ;
S = [8, 9, 12] ;
S = [8, 9, 14] ;
S = [8, 10, 12] ;
S = [8, 10, 14] ;
S = [8, 12, 14] ;
S = [9, 10, 12] ;
S = [9, 10, 14] ;
S = [9, 12, 14] ;
S = [10, 12, 14] ;
false.


%I want to ignore the first match [3,8,9].
combinations prolog list
1 Answers

Depending on why you want this, there are several options.

?- combination(3,[3,8,9,10,12,14],S).  % original question
   S = [3,8,9],     unexpected
;  S = [3,8,10]
;  S = [3,8,12]
;  ... .
?- dif(S,[3,8,9]), combination(3,[3,8,9,10,12,14],S).
   S = [3,8,10]
;  S = [3,8,12]
;  S = [3,8,14]
;  ... .
?- combination(3,[8,9,10,12,14],S).
   S = [8,9,10]
;  S = [8,9,12]
;  S = [8,9,14]
;  ... .
?- call_nth(combination(3,[3,8,9,10,12,14],S), Nth), Nth>1.
   S = [3,8,10], Nth = 2
;  S = [3,8,12], Nth = 3
;  S = [3,8,14], Nth = 4
;  ... .

First, you might not want that particular solution, then use dif/2, or maybe just use a smaller list, and finally, you want to exclude the first answer (which in this case is also the first solution), then use call_nth/2.

user_7728680
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