KDB: How to make evenly distributed (as possible) selections from a list?

Question

I am aware that in KDB, if you have a list like...

l:`apples`oranges`pears`

You can make N random selections like as follows:

9?l

But how do I evenly select each of the items in the list whenever possible?

user_3555700 · Answer

You can use '#' operator to take N elements of list and do a permutation(0N?) of the result.

q) l:`apples`oranges`pears
q)  0N?6#l  / take and permutation
q) `pears`oranges`apples`apples`oranges`pears