std::random_shuffle, std::shuffle

 

C++

Compiler support

Freestanding and hosted

Language

Standard library

Standard library headers

Named requirements

Feature test macros (C++20)

Language support library

Concepts library (C++20)

Metaprogramming library (C++11)

Diagnostics library

General utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Iterators library

Ranges library (C++20)

Algorithms library

Numerics library

Localizations library

Input/output library

Filesystem library (C++17)

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Concurrency support library (C++11)

Execution support library (C++26)

Technical specifications

Symbols index

External libraries

 

Algorithm library

Constrained algorithms and algorithms on ranges (C++20)
Constrained algorithms, e.g. ranges::copy, ranges::sort, ...
Execution policies (C++17)
is_execution_policy (C++17)   execution::seqexecution::parexecution::par_unseqexecution::unseq (C++17)    (C++17)(C++17)(C++20)	execution::sequenced_policyexecution::parallel_policyexecution::parallel_unsequenced_policyexecution::parallel_unsequenced (C++17)(C++17)(C++17)(C++20)
Non-modifying sequence operations Batch operations for_each for_each_n (C++17) Search operations all_ofany_ofnone_of (C++11)                (C++11)(C++11) countcount_if mismatch equal findfind_iffind_if_not (C++11) find_end find_first_of adjacent_find search search_n Modifying sequence operations Copy operations copycopy_if (C++11) copy_backward copy_n (C++11) move (C++11) move_backward (C++11) Swap operations swap iter_swap swap_ranges Transformation operations replacereplace_if transform replace_copyreplace_copy_if Generation operations fill fill_n generate generate_n Removing operations removeremove_if unique remove_copyremove_copy_if unique_copy Order-changing operations reverse reverse_copy rotate rotate_copy random_shuffleshuffle (until C++17)(C++11) shift_leftshift_right (C++20)(C++20) Sampling operations sample (C++17)	Sorting and related operations Partitioning operations partition partition_copy (C++11)   stable_partition is_partitioned (C++11) partition_point (C++11) Sorting operations sort stable_sort partial_sort partial_sort_copy is_sorted (C++11) is_sorted_until (C++11) nth_element Binary search operations (on partitioned ranges) lower_bound upper_bound equal_range binary_search Set operations (on sorted ranges) includes set_union set_intersection set_difference set_symmetric_difference Merge operations (on sorted ranges) merge inplace_merge Heap operations push_heap pop_heap make_heap sort_heap is_heap (C++11) is_heap_until (C++11) Minimum/maximum operations max min minmax (C++11) clamp (C++17) max_element min_element minmax_element (C++11) Lexicographical comparison operations lexicographical_compare lexicographical_compare_three_way (C++20) Permutation operations next_permutation prev_permutation is_permutation (C++11) C library qsort bsearch
Numeric operations
iota (C++11) inner_product adjacent_difference    accumulate reduce (C++17) transform_reduce (C++17)	partial_sum inclusive_scan (C++17)    exclusive_scan (C++17) transform_inclusive_scan (C++17) transform_exclusive_scan (C++17)
Operations on uninitialized memory
uninitialized_copy uninitialized_move (C++17)    uninitialized_fill uninitialized_copy_n (C++11) uninitialized_move_n (C++17) uninitialized_fill_n	destroy (C++17) destroy_n (C++17) destroy_at (C++17) construct_at (C++20)       uninitialized_default_construct (C++17) uninitialized_value_construct (C++17) uninitialized_default_construct_n (C++17) uninitialized_value_construct_n (C++17)

 

Defined in header <algorithm>
template< class RandomIt > void random_shuffle( RandomIt first, RandomIt last );	(1)	(until C++17) (deprecated in C++14)
	(2)
template< class RandomIt, class RandomFunc > void random_shuffle( RandomIt first, RandomIt last, RandomFunc& r );			(until C++11)
template< class RandomIt, class RandomFunc > void random_shuffle( RandomIt first, RandomIt last, RandomFunc&& r );			(since C++11) (until C++17) (deprecated in C++14)
template< class RandomIt, class URBG > void shuffle( RandomIt first, RandomIt last, URBG&& g );		(3)	(since C++11)

Reorders the elements in the given range [first, last) such that each possible permutation of those elements has equal probability of appearance.

1) The random number generator is implementation-defined, but the function std::rand is often used.

2) The random number generator is the function object r.

3) The random number generator is the function object g.

Parameters

first, last	-	the range of elements to shuffle randomly
r	-	function object returning a randomly chosen value of type convertible to std::iterator_traits<RandomIt>::difference_type in the interval [0,n) if invoked as r(n)
g	-	a Template:concept whose result type is convertible to std::iterator_traits<RandomIt>::difference_type
Type requirements

Return value

(none)

Complexity

Linear in the distance between first and last

Possible implementation

First version
template< class RandomIt > void random_shuffle( RandomIt first, RandomIt last ) { typename std::iterator_traits<RandomIt>::difference_type i, n; n = last - first; for (i = n-1; i > 0; --i) { std::swap(first[i], first[std::rand() % (i+1)]); } }
Second version
template<class RandomIt, class RandomFunc> void random_shuffle(RandomIt first, RandomIt last, RandomFunc&& r) { typename std::iterator_traits<RandomIt>::difference_type i, n; n = last - first; for (i = n-1; i > 0; --i) { std::swap(first[i], first[r(i+1)]); } }
Third version
template<class RandomIt, class UniformRandomBitGenerator> void shuffle(RandomIt first, RandomIt last, UniformRandomBitGenerator&& g) { typedef typename std::iterator_traits<RandomIt>::difference_type diff_t; typedef typename std::make_unsigned<diff_t>::type udiff_t; typedef typename std::uniform_int_distribution<udiff_t> distr_t; typedef typename distr_t::param_type param_t;   distr_t D; diff_t n = last - first; for (diff_t i = n-1; i > 0; --i) { std::swap(first[i], first[D(g, param_t(0, i))]); } }

Example

The following code randomly shuffles the integers 1..10:

Run this code

#include <random>
#include <algorithm>
#include <iterator>
#include <iostream>
 
int main()
{
    std::vector<int> v = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10};
 
    std::random_device rd;
    std::mt19937 g(rd());
 
    std::shuffle(v.begin(), v.end(), g);
 
    std::copy(v.begin(), v.end(), std::ostream_iterator<int>(std::cout, " "));
    std::cout << "\n";
}

Possible output:

8 6 10 4 2 3 7 1 9 5

See also

next_permutation	generates the next greater lexicographic permutation of a range of elements (function template)
prev_permutation	generates the next smaller lexicographic permutation of a range of elements (function template)