Python3+ solution: def permuatations(input_list, char): new_list = [] for data in input_list: individual_list = list(data) temp_list = [] for i in range(len(individual_list)+1): temp_individual_list = individual_list[:] temp_individual_list.insert(i, char) temp_list.append("".join(temp_individual_list)) new_list.extend(temp_list) return new_list def generate_permutations(input_data): perm_list = list(input_data) answer = list(perm_list[0]) for data in range(1, len(perm_list)): answer = permuatations(answer, perm_list[data]) print(answer) if __name__ == '__main__': generate_permutations("abcd")