CODE 56: Combinations

Given two integers n and k, return all possible combinations of k numbers out of 1 ... n.

For example,
If n = 4 and k = 2, a solution is:

[
  [2,4],
  [3,4],
  [2,3],
  [1,2],
  [1,3],
  [1,4],
]

	public ArrayList<ArrayList<Integer>> combine(int n, int k) {
		// Start typing your Java solution below
		// DO NOT write main() function
		if (n < k) {
			return null;
		}

		ArrayList<Integer> sList = new ArrayList<Integer>();
		for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
			sList.add(i);
		}
		ArrayList<ArrayList<Integer>> result = new ArrayList<ArrayList<Integer>>();
		for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
			ArrayList<Integer> element = new ArrayList<Integer>();
			element.add(i);
			result.add(element);
		}
		int start = 0;
		int end = result.size();
		for (int num = 2; num <= k; num++) {
			ArrayList<ArrayList<Integer>> tmp = new ArrayList<ArrayList<Integer>>();
			for (int i = start; i < end; i++) {
				ArrayList<Integer> oldElement = result.get(i);
				for (int j = sList
						.indexOf(oldElement.get(oldElement.size() - 1)) + 2; j <= n; j++) {
					ArrayList<Integer> element = new ArrayList<Integer>();
					element.addAll(oldElement);
					element.add(j);
					tmp.add(element);
				}
			}
			result.clear();
			result.addAll(tmp);
			start = 0;
			end = result.size();
		}
		return result;
	}