Task

{{task|Basic language learning}} [[Category:Randomness]] Demonstrate how to pick a random element from a list.

ACL2

:set-state-ok t

(defun pick-random-element (xs state)
   (mv-let (idx state)
           (random$ (len xs) state)
      (mv (nth idx xs) state)))

Ada

The following program generates three 20-letter words. Each vowel and each consonant is picked randomly from a list of vowels resp. a list of consonants.

with Ada.Text_IO, Ada.Numerics.Float_Random;

procedure Pick_Random_Element is

   package Rnd renames Ada.Numerics.Float_Random;
   Gen: Rnd.Generator; -- used globally

   type Char_Arr is array (Natural range <>) of Character;

   function Pick_Random(A: Char_Arr) return Character is
      -- Chooses one of the characters of A (uniformly distributed)
   begin
      return A(A'First + Natural(Rnd.Random(Gen) * Float(A'Last)));
   end Pick_Random;

   Vowels    : Char_Arr := ('a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u');
   Consonants: Char_Arr := ('t', 'n', 's', 'h', 'r', 'd', 'l');
   Specials  : Char_Arr := (',', '.', '?', '!');

begin
   Rnd.Reset(Gen);
   for J in 1 .. 3 loop
      for I in 1 .. 10 loop
         Ada.Text_IO.Put(Pick_Random(Consonants));
         Ada.Text_IO.Put(Pick_Random(Vowels));
      end loop;
      Ada.Text_IO.Put(Pick_Random(Specials) & " ");
   end loop;
   Ada.Text_IO.New_Line;
end Pick_Random_Element;

horanohesuhodinahiru. desehonirosedisinelo, losihehederidonolahe?

Aime

list l;

l_append(l, 'a');
l_append(l, 'b');
l_append(l, 'c');
l_append(l, 'd');
l_append(l, 'e');
l_append(l, 'f');

o_byte(l[drand(5)]);
o_byte('\n');

ALGOL 68

# pick a random element from an array of strings #

OP PICKRANDOM = ( []STRING list )STRING:
BEGIN

    INT number of elements = ( UPB list - LWB list ) + 1;
    INT random element     =
        ENTIER ( next random * ( number of elements ) );

    list[ LWB list + random element ]
END; # PICKRANDOM #
# can define additional operators for other types of array #


main: (

    []STRING days = ( "Sunday",   "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday"
                    , "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday"
                    );

    print( ( PICKRANDOM days, newline ) )

)

Thursday

App Inventor

App Inventor has the block '''pick a random item''' for selecting a random item from a list.

[https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-FaK4IeMmyI0/Uuv4G83dpYI/AAAAAAAAJ-E/3gzO5jUMwxE/s1600/Capture.PNG CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE BLOCKS AND ANDROID APP DISPLAY]

AppleScript

get some item of [1, "two", pi, "4", 5 > 4, 5 + 1, Sunday]

"two"

AutoHotkey

; True Arrays

list := ["abc", "def", "gh", "ijklmnop", "hello", "world"]
Random, randint, 1, % list.MaxIndex()
MsgBox % List[randint]

; Pseudo-Arrays

list := "abc,def,gh,ijklmnop,hello,world"
StringSplit list, list, `,
Random, randint, 1, %list0%
MsgBox % List%randint%

AWK

# syntax: GAWK -f PICK_RANDOM_ELEMENT.AWK
BEGIN {
    n = split("Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday,Saturday,Sunday",day_of_week,",")
    srand()
    x = int(n*rand()) + 1
    printf("%s\n",day_of_week[x])
    exit(0)
}

GAWK -f PICK_RANDOM_ELEMENT.AWK
Sunday
GAWK -f PICK_RANDOM_ELEMENT.AWK
Monday
GAWK -f PICK_RANDOM_ELEMENT.AWK
Wednesday
GAWK -f PICK_RANDOM_ELEMENT.AWK
Tuesday

BaCon

This is simply an application of a ranged random number used as an array index. '''BaCon''' has no built in random element selector.

' Pick random element
OPTION BASE 1
DECLARE words$[6]
FOR i = 1 TO 6 : READ words$[i] : NEXT
DATA "Alpha", "Beta", "Gamma", "Delta", "Epsilon", "Zeta"

element = RANDOM(6) + 1
PRINT "Chose ", element, ": ", words$[element]

prompt$ ./pick-random-element
Chose 2: Beta
prompt$ ./pick-random-element
Chose 1: Alpha
prompt$ ./pick-random-element
Chose 5: Epsilon

Bash

# borrowed from github.com/search?q=bashnative

rand() {
	printf $((  $1 *  RANDOM  / 32767   ))
}
rand_element () {
    local -a th=("$@")
    unset th[0]
    printf $'%s\n' "${th[$(($(rand "${#th[*]}")+1))]}"
}

echo "You feel like a $(rand_element pig donkey unicorn eagle) today"

BASIC

Note the use of LBOUND and UBOUND. This is only necessary for arrays where the lower and upper limits aren't known. In this example, we know they are 0 and 10 respectively, and could have hard-coded those numbers. (For that matter, the "random selection" line could've just been entered as x = INT(RND * 11).)

'setup
DIM foo(10) AS LONG
DIM n AS LONG, x AS LONG
FOR n = LBOUND(foo) TO UBOUND(foo)
    foo(n) = INT(RND*99999)
NEXT
RANDOMIZE TIMER

'random selection
x = INT(RND * ((UBOUND(foo) - LBOUND(foo)) + 1))

'output
PRINT x, foo(x)

See also: [[#Liberty BASIC|Liberty BASIC]], [[#PureBasic|PureBasic]], [[#Run BASIC|Run BASIC]]

=

Commodore BASIC

=

10 DIM A$(9)
20 FOR I=0 TO 9 : READ A$(I) : NEXT
30 X = RND(-TI) : REM 'PLANT A RANDOM SEED'
40 X = INT(RND(1)*10)
50 PRINT A$(X)
60 END
100 DATA ALPHA, BRAVO, CHARLIE, DELTA, ECHO
110 DATA FOXTROT, GOLF, HOTEL, INDIA, JULIETT

Batch File

Since there is no arrays in Batch File, I will use a 1-based pseudo-array.

@echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion

	::Initializing the pseudo-array...
set "pseudo=Alpha Beta Gamma Delta Epsilon"
set cnt=0 & for %%P in (!pseudo!) do (
	set /a cnt+=1
	set "pseudo[!cnt!]=%%P"
)
	::Do the random thing...
set /a rndInt=%random% %% cnt +1

	::Print the element corresponding to rndint...
echo.!pseudo[%rndInt%]!
pause
exit /b

Delta
Press any key to continue . . .

Gamma
Press any key to continue . . .

Epsilon
Press any key to continue . . .

Gamma
Press any key to continue . . .

BBC BASIC

      DIM list$(5)
      list$() = "The", "five", "boxing", "wizards", "jump", "quickly"
      chosen% = RND(6)
      PRINT "Item " ; chosen% " was chosen which is '" list$(chosen%-1) "'"

Item 4 was chosen which is 'wizards'

Burlesque

blsq ) "ABCDEFG"123456 0 6rn-]!!
'G

''123456'' is the random seed. In order to pick another element you have to change the random seed.

C

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <time.h>

int main(){
   char array[] = { 'a', 'b', 'c','d','e','f','g','h','i','j' };
   int i;
   time_t t;
   srand((unsigned)time(&t));

   for(i=0;i<30;i++){
		printf("%c\n", array[rand()%10]);
   }

   return 0;
}

Output

a
e
f
h
b
d
g
a
b
f
a
i
b
d
d
g
j
a
f
e
a
e
g
e
i
d
j
a
f
e
a

C++

#include <iostream>
#include <random>
#include <vector>

int main( ) {
   std::vector<int> numbers { 11 , 88 , -5 , 13 , 4 , 121 , 77 , 2 } ;
   std::random_device seed ;
   // generator
   std::mt19937 engine( seed( ) ) ;
   // number distribution
   std::uniform_int_distribution<int> choose( 0 , numbers.size( ) - 1 ) ;
   std::cout << "random element picked : " << numbers[ choose( engine ) ]
      << " !\n" ;
   return 0 ;
}

C#

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

class RandomElementPicker {
  static void Main() {
    var list = new List<int>(new[]{0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9});
    var rng = new Random();
    var randomElement = list[rng.Next(list.Count)];
    Console.WriteLine("I picked element {0}", randomElement);
  }
}

Ceylon

import ceylon.random {

	DefaultRandom
}

shared void run() {
    value random = DefaultRandom();
    value element = random.nextElement([1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]);
    print(element);
}

Clojure

(rand-nth coll)

where coll is some sequential collection. Equivalent to:

(nth coll (rand-int (count coll)))

COBOL

SOURCE FREE
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. random-element.

DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01  nums-area                           VALUE "123456789".
    03  nums                            PIC 9 OCCURS 9 TIMES.

01  random-idx                          PIC 9 COMP.

PROCEDURE DIVISION.
    COMPUTE random-idx = FUNCTION RANDOM(FUNCTION CURRENT-DATE (9:7)) * 9 + 1
    DISPLAY nums (random-idx)
    .
END PROGRAM random-element.

CoffeeScript

array = [1,2,3]
console.log array[Math.floor(Math.random() * array.length)]

Common Lisp

(defvar *list* '(one two three four five))

(print (nth (random (length *list*)) *list*))
(print (nth (random (length *list*)) *list*))
(print (nth (random (length *list*)) *list*))

FIVE
THREE
ONE

Crystal

puts [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].sample(1)

D

import std.stdio, std.random;

void main() {
    const items = ["foo", "bar", "baz"];
    items[uniform(0, $)].writeln;
}

Delphi

See [[#Pascal / Delphi / Free Pascal]].

=={{header|Déjà Vu}}==

!print choose [ "one" "two" "chicken" ]

EasyLang

ar$[] = [ "spring" "summer" "autumn" "winter" ]
print ar$[random len ar$[]]

EchoLisp

(define (pick-random list)
    (list-ref list (random (length list))))
(pick-random (iota 1000)) → 667
(pick-random (iota 1000)) → 179

Elena

ELENA 4.1 :

import extensions;

extension listOp
{
    randomItem()
        = self[randomGenerator.eval(self.Length)];
}

public program()
{
    var item := new int[]::(0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9);

    console.printLine("I picked element ",item.randomItem())
}

Elixir

iex(1)> list = Enum.to_list(1..20)
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20]
iex(2)> Enum.random(list)
19
iex(3)> Enum.take_random(list,4)
[19, 20, 7, 15]

Emacs Lisp

(defun random-choice (items)
  (let* ((size (length items))
         (index (random size)))
    (nth index items)))

(random-choice '("a" "b" "c"))
;; => "a"

Erlang

% Implemented by Arjun Sunel
-module(pick_random).
-export([main/0]).

main() ->
	List =[1,2,3,4,5],
	Index = rand:uniform(length(List)),
	lists:nth(Index,List).

Euphoria

constant s = {'a', 'b', 'c'}
puts(1,s[rand($)])

Factor

( scratchpad ) { "a" "b" "c" "d" "e" "f" } random .
"a"

Falcon

lst = [1, 3, 5, 8, 10]
> randomPick(lst)

Fortran

program pick_random
  implicit none

  integer :: i
  integer :: a(10) = (/ (i, i = 1, 10) /)
  real :: r

  call random_seed
  call random_number(r)
  write(*,*) a(int(r*size(a)) + 1)
end program

FreeBASIC

' FB 1.05.0 Win64

Dim a(0 To 9) As String = {"Zero", "One", "Two", "Three", "Four", "Five", "Six", "Seven", "Eight", "Nine"}

Randomize
Dim randInt As Integer

For i As Integer = 1 To 5
  randInt = Int(Rnd * 10)
  Print a(randInt)
Next
Sleep

Sample output :

Zero
Seven
Three
Nine
Three

Free Pascal

See [[#Pascal / Delphi / Free Pascal]].

=={{header|F_Sharp|F#}}==

let list = ["a"; "b"; "c"; "d"; "e"]
let rand = new System.Random()
printfn "%s" list.[rand.Next(list.Length)]

Gambas

'''[https://gambas-playground.proko.eu/ You can run this code. Copy the code, click this link, paste it in and press 'Run !']'''

Public Sub Main()
Dim sList As String[] = ["Jan", "Feb", "Mar", "Apr", "May", "Jun", "Jul", "Aug", "Sep", "Oct", "Nov", "Dec"]

Print sList[Rand(0, 11)]

End

Output:

May

GAP

a := [2, 9, 4, 7, 5, 3];
Random(a);

This works with many GAP objects, for instance groups:

Random(SymmetricGroup(20));

(1,4,8,2)(3,12)(5,14,10,18,17,7,16)(9,13)(11,15,20,19)

Go

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "math/rand"
    "time"
)

var list = []string{"bleen", "fuligin", "garrow", "grue", "hooloovoo"}

func main() {
    rand.Seed(time.Now().UnixNano())
    fmt.Println(list[rand.Intn(len(list))])
}

Groovy

Solution:

def list = [25, 30, 1, 450, 3, 78]
def random = new Random();

(0..3).each {
    def i = random.nextInt(list.size())
    println "list[${i}] == ${list[i]}"
}

list[3] == 450
list[2] == 1
list[5] == 78
list[3] == 450

Alternate Solution:

[25, 30, 1, 450, 3, 78].sort{new Random()}?.take(1)[0]

Haskell

Creating a custom function:

import System.Random (randomRIO)

pick :: [a] -> IO a
pick xs = fmap (xs !!) $ randomRIO (0, length xs - 1)

x <- pick [1, 2, 3]

Using the random-fu library:

import Data.Random
sample $ randomElement  [1, 2, 3]

For example:

do
  x <- sample $ randomElement  [1, 2, 3]
  print x

=={{header|Icon}} and {{header|Unicon}}== The unary operator '?' selects a random element from its argument which may be a string, list, table, or set.

procedure main()
   L := [1,2,3]  # a list
   x := ?L       # random element
end

J

   ({~ ?@#) 'abcdef'
b

Java

import java.util.Random;
...
int[] array = {1,2,3};
return array[new Random().nextInt(array.length)]; // if done multiple times, the Random object should be re-used

For a List object rather than an array, substitute list.get(...) for array[...]. If preserving the order of the List isn't important, you could call Collections.shuffle(list); and then list.get(0);. You would need to shuffle each time unless you removed the item from the list.

JavaScript

var array = [1,2,3];
return array[Math.floor(Math.random() * array.length)];

Julia

array = [1,2,3]
rand(array)

K

  1?"abcdefg"
,"e"

Kotlin

// version 1.2.10

import java.util.Random

/**
 * Extension function on any list that will return a random element from index 0
 * to the last index
 */
fun <E> List<E>.getRandomElement() = this[Random().nextInt(this.size)]

/**
 * Extension function on any list that will return a list of unique random picks
 * from the list. If the specified number of elements you want is larger than the
 * number of elements in the list it returns null
 */
fun <E> List<E>.getRandomElements(numberOfElements: Int): List<E>? {
    if (numberOfElements > this.size) {
        return null
    }
    return this.shuffled().take(numberOfElements)
}

fun main(args: Array<String>) {
    val list = listOf(1, 16, 3, 7, 17, 24, 34, 23, 11, 2)
    println("The list consists of the following numbers:\n${list}")

    // notice we can call our extension functions as if they were regular member functions of List
    println("\nA randomly selected element from the list is ${list.getRandomElement()}")
    println("\nA random sequence of 5 elements from the list is ${list.getRandomElements(5)}")
}

Sample output:

The list consists of the following numbers:
[1, 16, 3, 7, 17, 24, 34, 23, 11, 2]

A randomly selected element from the list is 11

A random sequence of 5 elements from the list is [17, 24, 23, 16, 3]

LabVIEW

{{VI snippet}}
[[File:LabVIEW_Pick_random_element.png]]

Lasso

local(
	my array = array('one', 'two', 3)
)

#myarray -> get(integer_random(#myarray -> size, 1))

-> two

Liberty BASIC

The natural way to hold an array of text is in a space- or comma-delimited string, although an array could be used.

list$ ="John Paul George Ringo Peter Paul Mary Obama Putin"
wantedTerm =int( 10 *rnd( 1))
print "Selecting term "; wantedTerm; " in the list, which was "; word$( list$, wantedTerm, " ")

Selecting term 5 in the list, which was Peter

LiveCode

put "Apple,Banana,Peach,Apricot,Pear" into fruits
put item (random(the number of items of fruits)) of fruits

Logo

pick [1 2 3]

Lua

math.randomseed(os.time())
local a = {1,2,3}
print(a[math.random(1,#a)])

Maple

a := [bear, giraffe, dog, rabbit, koala, lion, fox, deer, pony]:
randomNum := rand(1 ..numelems(a)):
a[randomNum()];

Mathematica

RandomChoice[{a, b, c}]
->c

=={{header|MATLAB}} / {{header|Octave}}== In case list is a cell array:

        list = {'a','b','c'};
	list{ceil(rand(1)*length(list))}

If list is a vector:

        list = 1:1000;
	list(ceil(rand(1)*length(list)))

Maxima

random_element(l):= part(l, 1+random(length(l)));
/*  (%i1) random_element(['a, 'b, 'c]);
    (%o1)                                  c
*/

=={{header|MK-61/52}}== 0 П0 1 П1 2 П2 3 П3 4 П4 5

^ СЧ * [x] ПE КИПE С/П

## NetLogo


```NetLogo
;; from list containnig only literals and literal constants
user-message one-of [ 1 3 "rooster" blue ]
;; from list containing variables and reporters
user-message one-of (list (red + 2) turtles (patch 0 0) )

NetRexx

/* NetRexx */
options replace format comments java crossref savelog symbols nobinary

iArray = [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ]     -- a traditional array
iList = Arrays.asList(iArray)  -- a Java Collection "List" object
iWords = '1 2 3 4 5'           -- a list as a string of space delimited words


v1 = iArray[Random().nextInt(iArray.length)]
v2 = iList.get(Random().nextInt(iList.size()))
v3 = iWords.word(Random().nextInt(iWords.words()) + 1) -- the index for word() starts at one

say v1 v2 v3

NewLISP

(define (pick-random-element R)
	(nth (rand (length R)) R))

Example:

(setq X '("alpha" "beta" "gamma" "delta" "epsilon"))
(println (pick-random-element X))
(println (pick-random-element X))
(println (pick-random-element X))
(println (pick-random-element X))

Nim

randomize()

let ls = @["foo", "bar", "baz"]
echo ls.rand()

Objeck

values := [1, 2, 3];
value := values[(Float->Random() * 100.0)->As(Int) % values->Size()];

OCaml

With a list:

let list_rand lst =
  let len = List.length lst in
  List.nth lst (Random.int len)

# list_rand [1;2;3;4;5] ;;
- : int = 3

With an array:

let array_rand ary =
  let len = Array.length ary in
  ary.(Random.int len)

# array_rand [|1;2;3;4;5|] ;;
- : int = 3

Oforth

: pickRand(l)   l size rand l at ;

Ol

(import (otus random!))

(define x '("Monday" "Tuesday" "Wednesday" "Thursday" "Friday" "Saturday" "Sunday"))
(print (list-ref x (rand! (length x))))

PARI/GP

pick(v)=v[random(#v)+1]

=={{header|Pascal}} / {{header|Delphi}} / {{header|Free Pascal}}==

Program PickRandomElement (output);

const
  s: array [1..5] of string = ('1234', 'ABCDE', 'Charlie', 'XB56ds', 'lala');

begin
  randomize;
  writeln(s[low(s) + random(length(s))]);
end.

Perl

my @array = qw(a b c);
print $array[ rand @array ];

Perl 6

In a nutshell, picking an element from a list is implemented with a method conveniently called "pick":

say (1, 2, 3).pick;

There are various ways of doing something similar, though. Perl 6 has actually two methods (with associated functional forms) to return random elements depending on whether you are doing selection with or without replacement.

Selection with replacement: (roll of a die)

say (1..6).roll;          # return 1 random value in the range 1 through 6
say (1..6).roll(3);       # return a list of 3 random values in the range 1 through 6
say (1..6).roll(*)[^100]; # return first 100 values from a lazy infinite list of random values in the range 1 through 6

Selection without replacement: (pick a card from a deck)

# define the deck
my @deck = <2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 J Q K A> X~ <♠ ♣ ♥ ♦>;
say @deck.pick;    # Pick a card
say @deck.pick(5); # Draw 5
say @deck.pick(*); # Get a shuffled deck

Or you can always use the normal rand built-in to generate a subscript (which automatically truncates any fractional part):

@array[@array * rand]

However, the pick and roll methods (not to be confused with the pick-and-roll method in basketball) are more general insofar as they may be used on any enumerable type:

## Phix


```Phix
constant s = {'a','b','c'}
puts(1,s[rand(length(s))])

PHP

$arr = array('foo', 'bar', 'baz');
$x = $arr[array_rand($arr)];

PicoLisp

(get Lst (rand 1 (length Lst)))

PL/I

   declare t(0:9) character (1) static initial
      ('a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j');
   put ( t(10*random()) );

e

Powershell

Powershell has Get-Random Cmdlet which one of its overload is to select randomly from a given list

1..100 | Get-Random -Count 3

Prolog

?- random_member(M, [a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j]).
M = i.

PureBasic

Procedure.s pickRandomElement(List source.s())
  Protected x = ListSize(source())

  If x > 0
    SelectElement(source(), Random(x - 1)) ;element numbering is zero - based
    ProcedureReturn source()
  EndIf
EndProcedure

;initialize list elements
DataSection
  elements:
  Data.s "One", "Two", "Three", "Four", "Five", "Six", "Seven", "Eight", "Nine", "Ten"
EndDataSection

#elementCount = 10
NewList item.s()

Restore elements
Define i
For i = 1 To #elementCount
  AddElement(item())
  Read.s item()
Next

If OpenConsole()
  Print("Source list:  ")
  ForEach item()
    Print(item() + " ")
  Next
  PrintN(#CRLF$)

  Print("Random picks from list:  ")
  For i = 1 To 10
    Print(pickRandomElement(item()) + " ")
  Next

  Print(#CRLF$ + #CRLF$ + "Press ENTER to exit"): Input()
  CloseConsole()
EndIf

Source list:  One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten

Random picks from list:  Seven Nine Two Six Four Four Nine Three Six Two

Easy version

OpenConsole()

a$="One" +#TAB$+ "Two"  +#TAB$+ "Three" +#TAB$+ "Four" +#TAB$+ "Five" +#TAB$+
   "Six" +#TAB$+ "Seven"+#TAB$+ "Eight" +#TAB$+ "Nine" +#TAB$+ "Ten"  +#TAB$

Print("Source list: "+#TAB$+a$+#CRLF$+"Random list: "+#TAB$)

For i=1 To CountString(a$,#TAB$)
  Print(StringField(a$,Random(CountString(a$,#TAB$),1),#TAB$)+#TAB$)
Next
Input()

Source list:    One     Two     Three   Four    Five    Six     Seven   Eight   Nine    Ten
Random list:    One     Two     Seven   Nine    Ten     Seven   Three   Five    Ten     Nine

Python

 import random
>>> random.choice(['foo', 'bar', 'baz'])
'baz'

R

# a vector (letters are builtin)
letters
#  [1] "a" "b" "c" "d" "e" "f" "g" "h" "i" "j" "k" "l" "m" "n" "o" "p" "q" "r" "s"
# [20] "t" "u" "v" "w" "x" "y" "z"

# picking one element
sample(letters, 1)
# [1] "n"

# picking some elements with repetition, and concatenating to get a word
paste(sample(letters, 10, rep=T), collapse="")
# [1] "episxgcgmt"

Racket

#lang racket
(define (pick-item l)
  (list-ref l (random (length l))))

REXX

version 1

This REXX example takes the Rosetta Code task very literally.

/*REXX program picks a   random element   from a list   (tongue in cheek, a visual pun).*/
_=  'hydrogen helium lithium beryllium boron carbon nitrogen oxygen fluorine neon sodium'
_=_ 'magnesium aluminum silicon phosphorous sulfur chlorine argon potassium calcium'
_=_ 'scandium titanium vanadium chromium manganese iron cobalt nickel copper zinc gallium'
_=_ 'germanium arsenic selenium bromine krypton rubidium strontium yttrium zirconium'
_=_ 'niobium molybdenum technetium ruthenium rhodium palladium silver cadmium indium tin'
_=_ 'antimony tellurium iodine xenon cesium barium lanthanum cerium praseodymium'
_=_ 'neodymium promethium samarium europium gadolinium terbium dysprosium holmium erbium'
_=_ 'thulium ytterbium lutetium hafnium tantalum tungsten rhenium osmium iridium platinum'
_=_ 'gold mercury thallium lead bismuth polonium astatine radon francium radium actinium'
_=_ 'thorium protactinium uranium neptunium plutonium americium curium berkelium'
_=_ 'californium einsteinium fermium mendelevium nobelium lawrencium rutherfordium dubnium'
_=_ 'seaborgium bohrium hassium meitnerium darmstadtium roentgenium copernicium nihonium'
_=_ 'flerovium moscovium livermorium tennessine oganesson ununenniym unbinvlium umbiunium'

#= words(_)                                      /*obtain the number of words in list.  */
item= subword(_, random(1, #), 1)                /*obtain random word (element) in list.*/
say 'random element: '    item                   /*stick a fork in it,  we're all done. */

random element:  nihoniym

version 2

Slightly simplified:

Note that this version doesn't work (receives a syntax error 12) with REXXes that have a

smaller limit of the total length of a clause, in particular PC/REXX and Personal REXX

which have a limit of 1,000 characters).

/* REXX ***************************************************************
* 18.10.2012 Walter Pachl Not only the list of elements shortened:-)
**********************************************************************/
wl='hydrogen helium lithium beryllium boron carbon nitrogen oxygen',
   'fluorine neon sodium magnesium aluminum silicon phosphorous sulfur',
   '...',
   'meitnerium darmstadtium roentgenium copernicium Ununtrium'

Say word(wl,random(1,words(wl)))

Red

 random/only collect [repeat i 10 [keep i]]

Ring

aList  = "abcdefghij"
for i = 1 to 10
    letter = random(9) + 1
    if letter > 0
       see aList[letter] + nl
    ok
next

Ruby

%w(north east south west).sample   # => "west"
(1..100).to_a.sample(2)            # => [17, 79]

Run BASIC

list$  = "a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j"
letter = rnd(1) * 10
print "Selected letter:"; word$(list$,letter,",")

Rust

extern crate rand;

use rand::Rng;

fn main() {
    let array = [5,1,2,5,6,7,8,1,2,4,5];
    let mut rng = rand::thread_rng();

    println!("{}", rng.choose(&array).unwrap());
}

Scala

val a = (1 to 10).toList

println(scala.util.Random.shuffle(a).head)

Seed7

$ include "seed7_05.s7i";

const proc: main is func
  begin
    writeln(rand([] ("foo", "bar", "baz")));
  end func;

Sidef

var arr = %w(north east south west);
say arr.rand;
say arr.rand(2).dump;

south
['west', 'south']

Smalltalk

x := #(1 2 3) atRandom.

SuperCollider

[1, 2, 3].choose

Swift

import Darwin

let myList = [1, 2, 4, 5, 62, 234, 1, -1]
print(myList[Int(arc4random_uniform(UInt32(myList.count)))])

Tcl

Random selection from a list is implemented by composing lindex (for selection of an item from a list) and the pattern for generating an integral random number from the range $[0,n)$. It's simpler to use when wrapped up as a helper procedure:

proc randelem {list} {
    lindex $list [expr {int(rand()*[llength $list])}]
}
set x [randelem {1 2 3 4 5}]

TXR

@(do (defun randelem (seq)
       [seq (random nil (length seq))]))
@(bind x @(randelem #("a" "b" "c" "d")))

TUSCRIPT

$$ MODE TUSCRIPT
list="John'Paul'George'Ringo'Peter'Paul'Mary'Obama'Putin"
sizeList=SIZE(list)
selectedNr=RANDOM_NUMBERS (1,sizeList,1)
selectedItem=SELECT(list,#selectednr)
PRINT "Selecting term ",selectedNr,"  in the list, which was ",selectedItem

Selecting term 3  in the list, which was George

Ursa

# generate a stream (ursa equivalent of a list)
decl string<> str
append "these" "are" "some" "values" str

decl ursa.util.random r
out str<(r.getint (size str))> endl console

VBA

Option Explicit

Sub Main_Pick_Random_Element()
    Debug.Print Pick_Random_Element(Array(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, #11/24/2017#, "azerty"))
End Sub

Function Pick_Random_Element(myArray)
    Randomize Timer
    Pick_Random_Element = myArray(Int((Rnd * (UBound(myArray) - LBound(myArray) + 1) + LBound(myArray))))
End Function

VBScript

Function pick_random(arr)
	Set objRandom = CreateObject("System.Random")
	pick_random = arr(objRandom.Next_2(0,UBound(arr)+1))
End Function

WScript.Echo pick_random(Array("a","b","c","d","e","f"))

d

Visual Basic .NET

Module Program
    Sub Main()
        Dim list As New List(Of Integer)({0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9})
        Dim rng As New Random()
        Dim randomElement = list(rng.Next(list.Count)) ' Upper bound is exclusive.
        Console.WriteLine("I picked element {0}", randomElement)
    End Sub
End Module

XPL0

code Ran=1, Text=12;
int  List;
[List:= ["hydrogen", "helium", "lithium", "beryllium", "boron"];  \(Thanks REXX)
Text(0, List(Ran(5)));
]

zkl

list:=T("hydrogen", "helium", "lithium", "beryllium", "boron");
list[(0).random(list.len())]