Logo

Programming-Idioms

Create a new list y from randomly picking exactly k elements from list x.

It is assumed that x has at least k elements.
Each element must have same probability to be picked.
Each element from x must be picked at most once.
Explain if the original ordering is preserved or not.
New implementation

Be concise.

Be useful.

All contributions dictatorially edited by webmasters to match personal tastes.

Please do not paste any copyright violating material.

Please try to avoid dependencies to third-party libraries and frameworks.

Other implementations
(def y (->> x shuffle (take k)))
using System.Collections.Generic;
Random rnd = new Random();
List<int> y = x.OrderBy(r => rnd.Next()).Take(k).ToList();
import std.random;
auto y = randomSample(x, k);
allocate (sample(k))
do i=1,k
   sample(i) = x(i)
end do
do i=k+1,n
  call random_number(a)
  j = 1 + int(i*a)
  if (j .le. k) sample(j) = x(i)
end do
import "math/rand"
y := make([]T, k)
perm := rand.Perm(len(x))
for i, v := range perm[:k] {
	y[i] = x[v]
}
import System.Random (randomRIO)
randomSample :: Int -> [a] -> IO [a]
randomSample 0 x = pure []
randomSample k x = do
   i <- randomRIO (0, length x - 1)
   let (a, e:b) = splitAt i x
   l <- randomSample (k-1) (a ++ b)
   pure (e : l)
const idx = x.map((item, i) => i);
while (y.length < k) {
  const i = parseInt(Math.random() * idx.length, 10);
  y.push(x[[idx[i]]]);
  idx.splice(i, 1);
}
import java.util.List;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;
public static <T> List<T> randomSublist(List<T> x, int k) {
	List<T> y = new ArrayList<>(x);
	Collections.shuffle(y);
	return y.subList(0, k);
}
$y = array_intersect_key($x, array_flip(array_rand($x, $k)));
uses Types, Math;
function RandArr(Max: Integer): TIntegerDynArray;
var
  i, j, temp: Integer;
begin
  SetLength(Result, Max+1);
  for i := Low(Result) to High(Result) do Result[i] := i;
  i := Length(Result);
  while i > 0 do
  begin
    Dec(i);
    j := RandomRange(0,i);
    temp := Result[i];
    Result[i] := Result[j];
    Result[j] := temp;
  end;
end;
  
var
  Idx: TIntegerDynArray;
begin
  Idx := RandArr(High(X));
  SetLength(Y, k);
  for i := 0 to k-1 do Y[i] := X[Idx];
end.
use List::Util qw(shuffle head);
my @y = head $k, shuffle @x;
import random
y = random.sample(x, k)
y = x.sample(k)
use rand::prelude::*;
let mut rng = &mut rand::thread_rng();
let y = x.choose_multiple(&mut rng, k).cloned().collect::<Vec<_>>();
y := x shuffled first: k.