Randomize a List<T>

Shuffle any (I)List with an extension method based on the Fisher-Yates shuffle:

private static Random rng = new Random();  

public static void Shuffle<T>(this IList<T> list)  
{  
    int n = list.Count;  
    while (n > 1) {  
        n--;  
        int k = rng.Next(n + 1);  
        T value = list[k];  
        list[k] = list[n];  
        list[n] = value;  
    }  
}

Usage:

List<Product> products = GetProducts();
products.Shuffle();

The code above uses the much criticised System.Random method to select swap candidates. It's fast but not as random as it should be. If you need a better quality of randomness in your shuffles use the random number generator in System.Security.Cryptography like so:

using System.Security.Cryptography;
...
public static void Shuffle<T>(this IList<T> list)
{
    RNGCryptoServiceProvider provider = new RNGCryptoServiceProvider();
    int n = list.Count;
    while (n > 1)
    {
        byte[] box = new byte[1];
        do provider.GetBytes(box);
        while (!(box[0] < n * (Byte.MaxValue / n)));
        int k = (box[0] % n);
        n--;
        T value = list[k];
        list[k] = list[n];
        list[n] = value;
    }
}

A simple comparison is available at this blog (WayBack Machine).

Edit: Since writing this answer a couple years back, many people have commented or written to me, to point out the big silly flaw in my comparison. They are of course right. There's nothing wrong with System.Random if it's used in the way it was intended. In my first example above, I instantiate the rng variable inside of the Shuffle method, which is asking for trouble if the method is going to be called repeatedly. Below is a fixed, full example based on a really useful comment received today from @weston here on SO.

Program.cs:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Threading;

namespace SimpleLottery
{
  class Program
  {
    private static void Main(string[] args)
    {
      var numbers = new List<int>(Enumerable.Range(1, 75));
      numbers.Shuffle();
      Console.WriteLine("The winning numbers are: {0}", string.Join(",  ", numbers.GetRange(0, 5)));
    }
  }

  public static class ThreadSafeRandom
  {
      [ThreadStatic] private static Random Local;

      public static Random ThisThreadsRandom
      {
          get { return Local ?? (Local = new Random(unchecked(Environment.TickCount * 31 + Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId))); }
      }
  }

  static class MyExtensions
  {
    public static void Shuffle<T>(this IList<T> list)
    {
      int n = list.Count;
      while (n > 1)
      {
        n--;
        int k = ThreadSafeRandom.ThisThreadsRandom.Next(n + 1);
        T value = list[k];
        list[k] = list[n];
        list[n] = value;
      }
    }
  }
}

Idea is get anonymous object with item and random order and then reorder items by this order and return value:

var result = items.Select(x => new { value = x, order = rnd.Next() })
            .OrderBy(x => x.order).Select(x => x.value).ToList()

    public static List<T> Randomize<T>(List<T> list)
    {
        List<T> randomizedList = new List<T>();
        Random rnd = new Random();
        while (list.Count > 0)
        {
            int index = rnd.Next(0, list.Count); //pick a random item from the master list
            randomizedList.Add(list[index]); //place it at the end of the randomized list
            list.RemoveAt(index);
        }
        return randomizedList;
    }

I usually use:

var list = new List<T> ();
fillList (list);
var randomizedList = new List<T> ();
var rnd = new Random ();
while (list.Count != 0)
{
    var index = rnd.Next (0, list.Count);
    randomizedList.Add (list [index]);
    list.RemoveAt (index);
}

If you have a fixed number (75), you could create an array with 75 elements, then enumerate your list, moving the elements to randomized positions in the array. You can generate the mapping of list number to array index using the Fisher-Yates shuffle.

Just wanted to suggest a variant using an IComparer<T> and List.Sort():

public class RandomIntComparer : IComparer<int>
{
    private readonly Random _random = new Random();
    
    public int Compare(int x, int y)
    {
        return _random.Next(-1, 2);
    }
}

Usage:

list.Sort(new RandomIntComparer());

I have found an interesting solution online.

Courtesy: https://improveandrepeat.com/2018/08/a-simple-way-to-shuffle-your-lists-in-c/

var shuffled = myList.OrderBy(x => Guid.NewGuid()).ToList();

One can use the Shuffle extension methond from morelinq package, it works on IEnumerables

install-package morelinq

using MoreLinq;
...    
var randomized = list.Shuffle();

You can make the Fisher-Yates shuffle more terse and expressive by using tuples for the swap.

private static readonly Random random = new Random();

public static void Shuffle<T>(this IList<T> list)
{
    int n = list.Count;
    while (n > 1)
    {
        n--;
        int k = random.Next(n + 1);
        (list[k], list[n]) = (list[n], list[k]);
    }
}

    List<T> OriginalList = new List<T>();
    List<T> TempList = new List<T>();
    Random random = new Random();
    int length = OriginalList.Count;
    int TempIndex = 0;

    while (length > 0) {
        TempIndex = random.Next(0, length);  // get random value between 0 and original length
        TempList.Add(OriginalList[TempIndex]); // add to temp list
        OriginalList.RemoveAt(TempIndex); // remove from original list
        length = OriginalList.Count;  // get new list <T> length.
    }

    OriginalList = new List<T>();
    OriginalList = TempList; // copy all items from temp list to original list.

Here is an implementation of the Fisher-Yates shuffle that allows specification of the number of elements to return; hence, it is not necessary to first sort the whole collection before taking your desired number of elements.

The sequence of swapping elements is reversed from default; and proceeds from the first element to the last element, so that retrieving a subset of the collection yields the same (partial) sequence as shuffling the whole collection:

collection.TakeRandom(5).SequenceEqual(collection.Shuffle().Take(5)); // true

This algorithm is based on Durstenfeld's (modern) version of the Fisher-Yates shuffle on Wikipedia.

public static IList<T> TakeRandom<T>(this IEnumerable<T> collection, int count, Random random) => shuffle(collection, count, random);
public static IList<T> Shuffle<T>(this IEnumerable<T> collection, Random random) => shuffle(collection, null, random);
private static IList<T> shuffle<T>(IEnumerable<T> collection, int? take, Random random)
{
    var a = collection.ToArray();
    var n = a.Length;
    if (take <= 0 || take > n) throw new ArgumentException("Invalid number of elements to return.");
    var end = take ?? n;
    for (int i = 0; i < end; i++)
    {
        var j = random.Next(i, n);
        (a[i], a[j]) = (a[j], a[i]);
    }

    if (take.HasValue) return new ArraySegment<T>(a, 0, take.Value);
    return a;
}

Your question is how to randomize a list. This means:

1. All unique combinations should be possible of happening
2. All unique combinations should occur with the same distribution (AKA being non-biased).

A large number of the answers posted for this question do NOT satisfy the two requirements above for being "random".

Here's a compact, non-biased pseudo-random function following the Fisher-Yates shuffle method.

public static void Shuffle<T>(this IList<T> list, Random rnd)
{
    for (var i = list.Count-1; i > 0; i--)
    {
        var randomIndex = rnd.Next(i + 1); //maxValue (i + 1) is EXCLUSIVE
        list.Swap(i, randomIndex); 
    }
}

public static void Swap<T>(this IList<T> list, int indexA, int indexB)
{
   var temp = list[indexA];
   list[indexA] = list[indexB];
   list[indexB] = temp;
}

We can use an extension method for List and use a thread-safe random generator combination.

public static class ListExtensions
{
    public static void Shuffle<T>(this IList<T> list)
    {
        if (list == null) throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(list));
        int n = list.Count;
        while (n > 1)
        {
            n--;
            int k = ThreadSafeRandom.Next(n + 1);
            (list[n], list[k]) = (list[k], list[n]);
        }
    }
}

internal class ThreadSafeRandom
{
    private static readonly Random _global = new Random();
    private static readonly ThreadLocal<Random> _local = new ThreadLocal<Random>(() =>
    {
        int seed;
        lock (_global)
        {
            seed = _global.Next();
        }
        return new Random(seed);
    });

    public static int Next(int maxValue)
    {
        return _local.Value.Next(maxValue);
    }
}

I've packaged this on NuGet with the source code available on GitHub.

private List<GameObject> ShuffleList(List<GameObject> ActualList) {


    List<GameObject> newList = ActualList;
    List<GameObject> outList = new List<GameObject>();

    int count = newList.Count;

    while (newList.Count > 0) {

        int rando = Random.Range(0, newList.Count);

        outList.Add(newList[rando]);

        newList.RemoveAt(rando);

     

    }

    return (outList);

}

usage :

List<GameObject> GetShuffle = ShuffleList(ActualList);

A very simple approach to this kind of problem is to use a number of random element swap in the list.

In pseudo-code this would look like this:

do 
    r1 = randomPositionInList()
    r2 = randomPositionInList()
    swap elements at index r1 and index r2 
for a certain number of times