CFLib.org – ListGetRandom

ListGetRandom(List [, Delimiter])

Last updated March 12, 2004

author

Version: 2 | Requires: ColdFusion 5 | Library: StrLib

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Description:
Can be used to return a random string or numeric value from a list. Just pass the list and an optional delimiter and it will return the random element.

Return Values:
Returns a random element from the list.

Example:

<CFSET numlist="1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0">
<CFSET stringlist="abc,def,ghi,jkl,mnop,qrs,tuv,wxy,z">
<CFOUTPUT>
Random number:#ListGetRandom(numlist)#<BR>
Random String:#ListGetRandom(stringlist)#<BR>
<I>Because we cache UDF templates at cflib.org, the results shown here will not be random.</I>
</cfoutput>

Parameters:

Name	Description	Required
List	The list to grab a random element from.	Yes
Delimiter	The list delimiter. Defaults to a comma.	No

Full UDF Source:

	
	<cfscript>
/**
 * Returns a random selection from a comma delimited list.
 * Modified by Raymond Camden
 * 
 * @param List      The list to grab a random element from. (Required)
 * @param Delimiter      The list delimiter. Defaults to a comma. (Optional)
 * @return Returns a random element from the list. 
 * @author Brad Breaux (bbreaux@blipz.com) 
 * @version 2, March 12, 2004 
 */
function ListGetRandom(instring) {
    var delim = ",";
    var rnum = 0;
    var r = '';
     if(ArrayLen(Arguments) GTE 2) delim = Arguments[2];
       if(listlen(instring) gt 0) {
        rnum = randrange(1,listlen(instring,delim));
            r = listgetat(instring,rnum,delim);
    }
    return r;
 }
</cfscript>