How to pop random item from a list?

[flamesrock]

Hi,

It's been a while since I've played with python.

My question is... whats the best way to pop a random item from a list??

-Thanks

[marduk]

On Thu, 2006-03-09 at 21:59 -0800, flamesrock wrote:

Hi,

It's been a while since I've played with python.

My question is... whats the best way to pop a random item from a list??

import random
# ...

item = mylist.pop(random.randint(0,len(mylist)))

[Ben Cartwright]

flamesrock wrote:

whats the best way to pop a random item from a list??

import random
def popchoice(seq):
# raises IndexError if seq is empty
return seq.pop(random.randrange(len(seq)))

--Ben

[Peter Otten]

marduk wrote:

item = mylist.pop(random.randint(0,len(mylist)))

This is broken because randint(a, b) may return b.
I prefer randrange(len(mylist)) over randint(0, len(mylist)-1) as a fix.

Peter

[flamesrock]

Thanks guys! :D

[Andrew Gwozdziewycz]

On Mar 11, 2006, at 11:21 AM, Peter Otten wrote:

Am Freitag, 10. März 2006 19:38 schrieben Sie:

item = mylist.pop(random.randint(0,len(mylist)))

This is broken because randint(a, b) may return b.
I prefer randrange(len(mylist)) over randint(0, len(mylist)-1) as
a fix.

This brings up an interesting proposal.
random.choice(seq) brings back a random element from a list, why not
add an optional second argument which is a flag to pop the element
instead of choosing?

ie.

> import random
> def choice(seq, pop=False):

... if not pop:
... return seq[random.randrange(len(seq))]
... else:
... return seq.pop(random.randrange(len(seq)))
...

> x = [1, 2, 3]
> choice(x)

1

> x

[1, 2, 3]

> choice(x, True)

1

> x

[2, 3]

[The main reason I am answering your mail is because you may have
intended to
post on c.l.py]

Regarding your enhancement, I don't see any use cases that aren't
handled by
random.sample() already.

Regards,
Peter

I can see a use case. Think of a bag datastructure. You push things
into some container
and pop them out randomly. If random.choice was capable of 'pop' it
would be
implemented implicitly.

random.sample, select elements from a list, but the original list
remains intact. This would
not be the desired 'bag' behavior.
---
Andrew Gwozdziewycz
ap****@gmail.com
http://ihadagreatview.org
http://and.rovir.us