Random shuffling of an array

Question

I need to randomly shuffle the following Array:

int[] solutionArray = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1};

Is there any function to do that?

Answer 1

Random rnd = new Random();
for (int i = ar.length - 1; i > 0; i--)
{
  int index = rnd.nextInt(i + 1);
  // Simple swap
  int a = ar[index];
  ar[index] = ar[i];
  ar[i] = a;
}

By the way, I've noticed that this code returns a ar.length - 1 number of elements, so if your array has 5 elements, the new shuffled array will have 4 elements. This happens because the for loop says i>0. If you change to i>=0, you get all elements shuffled.

Answer 2

The most simple solution for this Random Shuffling in an Array.

String location[] = {"delhi","banglore","mathura","lucknow","chandigarh","mumbai"};
int index;
String temp;
Random random = new Random();
for(int i=1;i<location.length;i++)
{
    index = random.nextInt(i+1);
    temp = location[index];
    location[index] = location[i];
    location[i] = temp;
    System.out.println("Location Based On Random Values :"+location[i]);
}

Answer 3

Using Collections to shuffle an array of primitive types is a bit of an overkill...

It is simple enough to implement the function yourself, using for example the Fisher–Yates shuffle:

import java.util.*;
import java.util.concurrent.ThreadLocalRandom;

class Test
{
  public static void main(String args[])
  {
    int[] solutionArray = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11 };

    shuffleArray(solutionArray);
    for (int i = 0; i < solutionArray.length; i++)
    {
      System.out.print(solutionArray[i] + " ");
    }
    System.out.println();
  }

  // Implementing Fisher–Yates shuffle
  static void shuffleArray(int[] ar)
  {
    // If running on Java 6 or older, use `new Random()` on RHS here
    Random rnd = ThreadLocalRandom.current();
    for (int i = ar.length - 1; i > 0; i--)
    {
      int index = rnd.nextInt(i + 1);
      // Simple swap
      int a = ar[index];
      ar[index] = ar[i];
      ar[i] = a;
    }
  }
}

Answer 4

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Random;
public class shuffle {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int a[] =  {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9};
         ArrayList b = new ArrayList();
       int i=0,q=0;
       Random rand = new Random();

       while(a.length!=b.size())
       {
           int l = rand.nextInt(a.length);
//this is one option to that but has a flaw on 0
//           if(a[l] !=0)
//           {
//                b.add(a[l]);
//               a[l]=0;
//               
//           }
//           
// this works for every no. 
                if(!(b.contains(a[l])))
                {
                    b.add(a[l]);
                }



       }

//        for (int j = 0; j <b.size(); j++) {
//            System.out.println(b.get(j));
//            
//        }
System.out.println(b);
    }

}

Answer 5

You have a couple options here. A list is a bit different than an array when it comes to shuffling.

As you can see below, an array is faster than a list, and a primitive array is faster than an object array.

Sample Durations

List<Integer> Shuffle: 43133ns
    Integer[] Shuffle: 31884ns
        int[] Shuffle: 25377ns

---

Below, are three different implementations of a shuffle. You should only use Collections.shuffle if you are dealing with a collection. There is no need to wrap your array into a collection just to sort it. The methods below are very simple to implement.

ShuffleUtil Class

import java.lang.reflect.Array;
import java.util.*;

public class ShuffleUtil<T> {
    private static final int[] EMPTY_INT_ARRAY = new int[0];
    private static final int SHUFFLE_THRESHOLD = 5;

    private static Random rand;

Main Method

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<Integer> list = null;
        Integer[] arr = null;
        int[] iarr = null;

        long start = 0;
        int cycles = 1000;
        int n = 1000;

        // Shuffle List<Integer>
        start = System.nanoTime();
        list = range(n);
        for (int i = 0; i < cycles; i++) {
            ShuffleUtil.shuffle(list);
        }
        System.out.printf("%22s: %dns%n", "List<Integer> Shuffle", (System.nanoTime() - start) / cycles);

        // Shuffle Integer[]
        start = System.nanoTime();
        arr = toArray(list);
        for (int i = 0; i < cycles; i++) {
            ShuffleUtil.shuffle(arr);
        }
        System.out.printf("%22s: %dns%n", "Integer[] Shuffle", (System.nanoTime() - start) / cycles);

        // Shuffle int[]
        start = System.nanoTime();
        iarr = toPrimitive(arr);
        for (int i = 0; i < cycles; i++) {
            ShuffleUtil.shuffle(iarr);
        }
        System.out.printf("%22s: %dns%n", "int[] Shuffle", (System.nanoTime() - start) / cycles);
    }

Shuffling a Generic List

    // ================================================================
    // Shuffle List<T> (java.lang.Collections)
    // ================================================================
    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    public static <T> void shuffle(List<T> list) {
        if (rand == null) {
            rand = new Random();
        }
        int size = list.size();
        if (size < SHUFFLE_THRESHOLD || list instanceof RandomAccess) {
            for (int i = size; i > 1; i--) {
                swap(list, i - 1, rand.nextInt(i));
            }
        } else {
            Object arr[] = list.toArray();

            for (int i = size; i > 1; i--) {
                swap(arr, i - 1, rand.nextInt(i));
            }

            ListIterator<T> it = list.listIterator();
            int i = 0;

            while (it.hasNext()) {
                it.next();
                it.set((T) arr[i++]);
            }
        }
    }

    public static <T> void swap(List<T> list, int i, int j) {
        final List<T> l = list;
        l.set(i, l.set(j, l.get(i)));
    }

    public static <T> List<T> shuffled(List<T> list) {
        List<T> copy = copyList(list);
        shuffle(copy);
        return copy;
    }

Shuffling a Generic Array

    // ================================================================
    // Shuffle T[]
    // ================================================================
    public static <T> void shuffle(T[] arr) {
        if (rand == null) {
            rand = new Random();
        }

        for (int i = arr.length - 1; i > 0; i--) {
            swap(arr, i, rand.nextInt(i + 1));
        }
    }

    public static <T> void swap(T[] arr, int i, int j) {
        T tmp = arr[i];
        arr[i] = arr[j];
        arr[j] = tmp;
    }

    public static <T> T[] shuffled(T[] arr) {
        T[] copy = Arrays.copyOf(arr, arr.length);
        shuffle(copy);
        return copy;
    }

Shuffling a Primitive Array

    // ================================================================
    // Shuffle int[]
    // ================================================================
    public static <T> void shuffle(int[] arr) {
        if (rand == null) {
            rand = new Random();
        }

        for (int i = arr.length - 1; i > 0; i--) {
            swap(arr, i, rand.nextInt(i + 1));
        }
    }

    public static <T> void swap(int[] arr, int i, int j) {
        int tmp = arr[i];
        arr[i] = arr[j];
        arr[j] = tmp;
    }

    public static int[] shuffled(int[] arr) {
        int[] copy = Arrays.copyOf(arr, arr.length);
        shuffle(copy);
        return copy;
    }

Utility Methods

Simple utility methods to copy and convert arrays to lists and vice-versa.

    // ================================================================
    // Utility methods
    // ================================================================
    protected static <T> List<T> copyList(List<T> list) {
        List<T> copy = new ArrayList<T>(list.size());
        for (T item : list) {
            copy.add(item);
        }
        return copy;
    }

    protected static int[] toPrimitive(Integer[] array) {
        if (array == null) {
            return null;
        } else if (array.length == 0) {
            return EMPTY_INT_ARRAY;
        }
        final int[] result = new int[array.length];
        for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
            result[i] = array[i].intValue();
        }
        return result;
    }

    protected static Integer[] toArray(List<Integer> list) {
        return toArray(list, Integer.class);
    }

    protected static <T> T[] toArray(List<T> list, Class<T> clazz) {
        @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
        final T[] arr = list.toArray((T[]) Array.newInstance(clazz, list.size()));
        return arr;
    }

Range Class

Generates a range of values, similar to Python's range function.

    // ================================================================
    // Range class for generating a range of values.
    // ================================================================
    protected static List<Integer> range(int n) {
        return toList(new Range(n), new ArrayList<Integer>());
    }

    protected static <T> List<T> toList(Iterable<T> iterable) {
        return toList(iterable, new ArrayList<T>());
    }

    protected static <T> List<T> toList(Iterable<T> iterable, List<T> destination) {
        addAll(destination, iterable.iterator());

        return destination;
    }

    protected static <T> void addAll(Collection<T> collection, Iterator<T> iterator) {
        while (iterator.hasNext()) {
            collection.add(iterator.next());
        }
    }

    private static class Range implements Iterable<Integer> {
        private int start;
        private int stop;
        private int step;

        private Range(int n) {
            this(0, n, 1);
        }

        private Range(int start, int stop) {
            this(start, stop, 1);
        }

        private Range(int start, int stop, int step) {
            this.start = start;
            this.stop = stop;
            this.step = step;
        }

        @Override
        public Iterator<Integer> iterator() {
            final int min = start;
            final int max = stop / step;

            return new Iterator<Integer>() {
                private int current = min;

                @Override
                public boolean hasNext() {
                    return current < max;
                }

                @Override
                public Integer next() {
                    if (hasNext()) {
                        return current++ * step;
                    } else {
                        throw new NoSuchElementException("Range reached the end");
                    }
                }

                @Override
                public void remove() {
                    throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Can't remove values from a Range");
                }
            };
        }
    }
}

Answer 6

Here is a solution using Apache Commons Math 3.x (for int[] arrays only):

MathArrays.shuffle(array);

http://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-math/javadocs/api-3.6.1/org/apache/commons/math3/util/MathArrays.html#shuffle(int[])

Alternatively, Apache Commons Lang 3.6 introduced new shuffle methods to the ArrayUtils class (for objects and any primitive type).

ArrayUtils.shuffle(array);

http://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-lang/javadocs/api-release/org/apache/commons/lang3/ArrayUtils.html#shuffle-int:A-