这可以通过拓扑排序算法来解决。
如果您将每个输入序列视为通过有向图的路径,则拓扑排序将按照每个有向边指向右侧的方式从左到右对您的节点集进行排序。

拓扑排序的维基百科页面包括这个算法,由 Arthur Kahn 在 1962 年首次描述:
L ← Empty list that will contain the sorted elements
S ← Set of all nodes with no incoming edges
while S is non-empty do
remove a node n from S
insert n into L
for each node m with an edge e from n to m do
remove edge e from the graph
if m has no other incoming edges then
insert m into S
if graph has edges then
return error (graph has at least one cycle)
else
return L (a topologically sorted order)
这个算法,如所写,如果它找到不明确的序列,它实际上并不会失败,但是通过在循环的开头插入一个检查很容易添加,如下所示:
...
while S is non-empty do
if S contains more than 1 item
return error (inputs are ambiguous)
remove a node n from S
...
我不知道您使用的是哪种语言,但我将这个 PHP 实现放在一起作为概念证明:
function mergeSequences($sequences, $detectAmbiguity = false) {
// build a list of nodes, with each node recording a list of all incoming edges
$nodes = array();
foreach ($sequences as $seq) {
foreach ($seq as $i => $item) {
if (!isset($nodes[$item])) $nodes[$item] = array();
if ($i !== 0) {
$nodes[$item][] = $seq[$i-1];
}
}
}
// build a list of all nodes with no incoming edges
$avail = array();
foreach ($nodes as $item => $edges) {
if (count($edges) == 0) {
$avail[] = $item;
unset($nodes[$item]);
}
}
$sorted = array();
$curr = '(start)';
while (count($avail) > 0) {
// optional: check for ambiguous sequence
if ($detectAmbiguity && count($avail) > 1) {
throw new Exception("Ambiguous sequence: {$curr} can be followed by " . join(' or ', $avail));
}
// get the next item and add it to the sorted list
$curr = array_pop($avail);
$sorted[] = $curr;
// remove all edges from the currently selected items to all others
foreach ($nodes as $item => $edges) {
$nodes[$item] = array_diff($edges, array($curr));
if (count($nodes[$item]) == 0) {
$avail[] = $item;
unset($nodes[$item]);
}
}
}
if (count($nodes) > 0) {
throw new Exception('Sequences contain conflicting information. Cannot continue after: ' . join(', ', $sorted));
}
return $sorted;
}
您可以像这样调用该函数:
$input = array(
array('XS', 'M', 'L', 'XL'),
array('S', 'M', 'XXL'),
array('XXS', 'XS', 'S', 'L'),
);
echo(join(', ', mergeSequences($input)));
echo(join(', ', mergeSequences($input, true)));
要获得以下输出:
XXS, XS, S, M, XXL, L, XL
Uncaught exception 'Exception' with message 'Ambiguous sequence: M can be followed by L or XXL'