JavaScript: Get a random item from an array

JavaScript Array: Exercise-35 with Solution

Random Array Item

Write a JavaScript function to get random items from an array.

Visual Presentation:

Sample Solution:

JavaScript Code:

// Function to return a random item from an array
function random_item(items) {
    // Use Math.random() to generate a random number between 0 and 1,
    // multiply it by the length of the array, and use Math.floor() to round down to the nearest integer
    return items[Math.floor(Math.random() * items.length)];
}

// Declare and initialize an array of items
var items = [254, 45, 212, 365, 2543];

// Output the result of the random_item function with the array of items
console.log(random_item(items));

Output:

365

Flowchart:

ES6 Version:

// Arrow function to return a random item from an array
const random_item = items => items[Math.floor(Math.random() * items.length)];

// Declare and initialize an array of items
const items = [254, 45, 212, 365, 2543];

// Output the result of the random_item function with the array of items
console.log(random_item(items));

Live Demo:

See the Pen JavaScript - Get a random item from an array - array-ex- 35 by w3resource (@w3resource) on CodePen.

Improve this sample solution and post your code through Disqus.

Previous: Write a JavaScript function to get nth largest element from an unsorted array.
Next: Write a JavaScript function to create a specified number of elements and pre-filled numeric value array.