how to choose a random name from a list in javascript
Poor Man
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- 2 min read
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- 268 words
Text
//To choose a random name from a list in JavaScript, you can follow the below steps:
//Step 1: Create an array with the list of names.
var namesList = ["John", "Mary", "David", "Linda", "Sarah", "James", "Jennifer"];
//Step 2: Use the Math.floor() and Math.random() functions to generate a random index from the array
var randomIndex = Math.floor(Math.random() * namesList.length);
//Step 3: Use the random index to access a random name from the list
var randomName = namesList[randomIndex];
//Step 4: Print the random name on the console or any other place as per your requirement.
console.log("Random Name: "+randomName);
Above code will work for very small arrays with less than 1000 elements, but if you are working with larger arrays then consider using a more optimized and efficient algorithm. One such algorithm is Fisher-Yates shuffle. It's important to note that this algorithm modifies the original array. Here's how you can implement Fisher-Yates shuffle in JavaScript:
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// Step 1: Create an array with the list of names.
var namesList = ["John", "Mary", "David", "Linda", "Sarah", "James", "Jennifer"];
// Step 2: Implement the Fisher-Yates shuffle algorithm
function shuffle(array) {
var currentIndex = array.length;
var temporaryValue, randomIndex;
while (currentIndex !== 0) {
randomIndex = Math.floor(Math.random() * currentIndex);
currentIndex -= 1;
temporaryValue = array[currentIndex];
array[currentIndex] = array[randomIndex];
array[randomIndex] = temporaryValue;
}
return array;
}
// Step 3: Call the shuffle function on your namesList
var shuffledList = shuffle(namesList);
// Step 4: Access a random name from the shuffled list
var randomName = shuffledList[0];
// Step 5: Print the random name on the console or any other place as per your requirement.
console.log("Random Name: "+randomName);
Hope this helps!