def determine_symbol_pairs(symbols):
    """determine symbol pairs

    given a list of symbols gives a list of symbol pairs in the appropriate order expected within the pypospack package.

    Args:
        symbols(list of str): a list of symbols
    Returns:
        (list of list):a list of symbol pairs
        
    """

    assert type(symbols) in [str,list]
    if type(symbols) is str: 
        symbols = [symbols]

    pairs = []
    for i1,s1 in enumerate(symbols):
        for i2,s2 in enumerate(symbols):
            if i1 <= i2:
                pairs.append([s1,s2])

    return pairs