How find all strings i can create with 3 char

I have 3 char "abc".
All combinations with these 3 characters are 3^3 = 27: aaa, aab, aac, aba, ... etc.

I write a pseudo-code to print all of these combinations:

string dictionary[3] = {"a", "b", "c"};
string str[3];

for (i=0;i<3;++i) {
    str[0]=dictionary[i];
    for (j=0;j<3;++j) {
        str[1]=dictionary[j];
        for(k=0;k<3;++k) {
            str[2]=dictionary[k];
            println(str);
        }
     }
 }

Now, I can see that all loops start at 0 and end at 2. So I thought there was a way to make this function as a recursive function, although in fact no basic step can be distinguished. So, i asked myself:

1. Is it really possible to create a recursive function for this type of problem?
2. If it existed, would it be more or less efficient than the iterative method?
3. If the number of usable chars would increase, performance would be worse or better?