javascriptarraysrandom

Create an array with random values


How can I create an array with 40 elements, with random values from 0 to 39 ? Like

[4, 23, 7, 39, 19, 0, 9, 14, ...]

I tried using solutions from here:

http://freewebdesigntutorials.com/javaScriptTutorials/jsArrayObject/randomizeArrayElements.htm

but the array I get is very little randomized. It generates a lot of blocks of successive numbers...


Solution

  • Here's a solution that shuffles a list of unique numbers (no repeats, ever).

    for (var a=[],i=0;i<40;++i) a[i]=i;
    
    // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/962802#962890
    function shuffle(array) {
      var tmp, current, top = array.length;
      if(top) while(--top) {
        current = Math.floor(Math.random() * (top + 1));
        tmp = array[current];
        array[current] = array[top];
        array[top] = tmp;
      }
      return array;
    }
    
    a = shuffle(a);
    

    If you want to allow repeated values (which is not what the OP wanted) then look elsewhere. :)