CFLib.org – Common Function Library Project

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:

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 (&#98;&#98;&#114;&#101;&#97;&#117;&#120;&#64;&#98;&#108;&#105;&#112;&#122;&#46;&#99;&#111;&#109;) 
 * @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>