Use random.choice():

import random

foo = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e']
print(random.choice(foo))

For cryptographically secure random choices (e.g., for generating a passphrase from a wordlist), use secrets.choice():

import secrets

foo = ['battery', 'correct', 'horse', 'staple']
print(secrets.choice(foo))

secrets is new in Python 3.6. On older versions of Python you can use the random.SystemRandom class:

import random

secure_random = random.SystemRandom()
print(secure_random.choice(foo))

NumPy solution: numpy.random.choice

For this question, it works the same as the accepted answer (import random; random.choice()), but I added it because the programmer may have imported NumPy already (like me)

And also there are some differences between the two methods that may concern your actual use case.

import numpy as np
np.random.choice(foo) # randomly selects a single item

For reproducibility, you can do:

np.random.seed(123)
np.random.choice(foo) # first call will always return 'c'

For samples of one or more items, returned as an array, pass the size argument:

np.random.choice(foo, 5)          # sample with replacement (default)
np.random.choice(foo, 5, False)   # sample without replacement

I usually use the random module for working with lists and randomization

import random
foo = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e']
print(random.choice(foo))

In short, use random.sample method

The sample method returns a new list containing elements from the population while leaving the original population unchanged. The resulting list is in selection order so that all sub-slices will also be valid random samples.

import random
lst = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e']
random.seed(0)  # remove this line, if you want different results for each run
rand_lst = random.sample(lst,3)  # 3 is the number of sample you want to retrieve
print(rand_lst)

Output:['d', 'e', 'a']

here is a running code https://onecompiler.com/python/3xem5jjvz

Random item selection:

import random

my_list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
num_selections = 2

new_list = random.sample(my_list, num_selections)

To preserve the order of the list, you could do:

randIndex = random.sample(range(len(my_list)), n_selections)
randIndex.sort()
new_list = [my_list[i] for i in randIndex]

Duplicate of https://stackoverflow.com/a/49682832/4383027

You could just:

from random import randint

foo = ["a", "b", "c", "d", "e"]

print(foo[randint(0,4)])

This may already be an answer but you could use random.shuffle. Example:

import random
foo = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e']
random.shuffle(foo)

The recommended numpy way is now to use an explicit RNG:

from numpy.random import default_rng

rng = default_rng()
rng.choice(foo)