Answering Zsolt's question here: http://alecmce.com/as3/permutations-in-as3#comment-895972434

gistfile1.txt

public function permutate(elements:Array, limit:int):Array
{
    if (elements.length == 1 && limit > 0)
        return [elements[0]];
 
    var permutations:Array = [];
    var length:int = elements.length;
 
    var i:int, j:int;
    var tmp:Array;
    var sub:Array;
 
    i = length;
    while (i-- && permutations.length < limit)
    {
        tmp = elements.slice(0, i).concat(elements.slice(i + 1, length));
        sub = permutate(tmp);
 
        j = sub.length;
        while (j-- && permutations.length < limit)
        {
            tmp = [elements[i]].concat(sub[j]);
            permutations.push(tmp);
        }
    }
 
    return permutations;
}