Randomize lines (opposite of | sort)

random -f <file>

random(6) - random lines from a file or random numbers

By: haplo

2009-09-24 19:15:58

Text Processing Os X cat sort perl sorting text

4 Alternatives + Submit Alt

Randomize lines (opposite of | sort)

Randomizes a file. The opposite of sort is sort -R!
This is sample output - yours may be different.
2

sort -R

RyanM · 2011-07-15 15:35:27 4
Randomize lines (opposite of | sort)

The sort utility is well used, but sometimes you want a little chaos. This will randomize the lines of a text file. BTW, on OS X there is no | sort -R option! There is also no | shuf These are only in the newer GNU core... This is also faster than the alternate of: | awk 'BEGIN { srand() } { print rand() "\t" $0 }' | sort -n | cut -f2- Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
cat ~/SortedFile.txt | perl -wnl -e '@f=<>; END{ foreach $i (reverse 0 .. $#f) { $r=int rand ($i+1); @f[$i, $r]=@f[$r,$i] unless ($i==$r); }  chomp @f; foreach $line (@f){ print $line; }}'

... randome lines from SortedFile.txt
```
0

cat ~/SortedFile.txt | perl -wnl -e '@f=<>; END{ foreach $i (reverse 0 .. $#f) { $r=int rand ($i+1); @f[$i, $r]=@f[$r,$i] unless ($i==$r); } chomp @f; foreach $line (@f){ print $line; }}'

drewk · 2009-09-24 15:42:43 5
Randomize lines (opposite of | sort)

print the lines of a file in randomized order Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
$ perl -wl -e '@f=<>; for $i (0 .. $#f) { $r=int rand ($i+1); @f[$i, $r]=@f[$r,$i] if ($i!=$r); } chomp @f; print join $/, @f;' try.txt
 34
 42
 48
 14
 51
 44
 46
 41
 39
 12
  3
 28
  4
 22
 20
 35
 29
 16
 21
 27
 13
  6
 26
  1
 30
  8
 47
 32
  2
 45
 11
 19
 37
 23
 10
 31
 18
  7
 38
 25
 15
 50
  5
 49
 40
 43
 36
  9
 33
 24
 17
```
0

perl -wl -e '@f=<>; for $i (0 .. $#f) { $r=int rand ($i+1); @f[$i, $r]=@f[$r,$i] if ($i!=$r); } chomp @f; print join $/, @f;' try.txt

JohnGH · 2009-12-21 21:15:55 4
Randomize lines (opposite of | sort)
This is sample output - yours may be different.
-1

ls -1 | xargs ruby -e'puts ARGV.shuffle'

jacaetevha · 2014-01-17 17:42:08 8

What Others Think

wth does this have to do with OSX and why is it even tagged? *cough* fanboys?

linuxrawkstar · 784 weeks and 6 days ago

'random' does not exist on OS X. How do you use it you do not have it?

drewk · 784 weeks and 6 days ago

sort -R is also randomized ;)

starenka · 784 weeks and 6 days ago

random is in package bsdgames or bsd-games in case you are looking for it.

hfs · 784 weeks and 5 days ago

seofox · 140 weeks ago

seofox · 139 weeks and 1 day ago

rahimhh21 · 109 weeks and 4 days ago

Perfecthomepugs · 101 weeks and 1 day ago

pugpuppies95 · 63 weeks and 2 days ago

behinekaran · 26 weeks and 4 days ago

What do you think?

Any thoughts on this command? Does it work on your machine? Can you do the same thing with only 14 characters?

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