How do I shuffle an array in Swift?

Question

How do I randomize or shuffle the elements within an array in Swift? For example, if my array consists of 52 playing cards, I want to shuffle the array in order to shuffle the deck.

Answer 1

This answer details how to shuffle with a fast and uniform algorithm (Fisher-Yates) in Swift 4.2+ and how to add the same feature in the various previous versions of Swift. The naming and behavior for each Swift version matches the mutating and nonmutating sorting methods for that version.

Swift 4.2+

shuffle and shuffled are native starting Swift 4.2. Example usage:

let x = [1, 2, 3].shuffled() // x == [2, 3, 1]  let fiveStrings = stride(from: 0, through: 100, by: 5).map(String.init).shuffled() // fiveStrings == ["20", "45", "70", "30", ...]  var numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4] numbers.shuffle() // numbers == [3, 2, 1, 4] 

Swift 4.0 and 4.1

These extensions add a shuffle() method to any mutable collection (arrays and unsafe mutable buffers) and a shuffled() method to any sequence:

extension MutableCollection {     /// Shuffles the contents of this collection.     mutating func shuffle() {         let c = count         guard c > 1 else { return }          for (firstUnshuffled, unshuffledCount) in zip(indices, stride(from: c, to: 1, by: -1)) {             // Change `Int` in the next line to `IndexDistance` in < Swift 4.1             let d: Int = numericCast(arc4random_uniform(numericCast(unshuffledCount)))             let i = index(firstUnshuffled, offsetBy: d)             swapAt(firstUnshuffled, i)         }     } }  extension Sequence {     /// Returns an array with the contents of this sequence, shuffled.     func shuffled() -> [Element] {         var result = Array(self)         result.shuffle()         return result     } } 

Same usage as in Swift 4.2 examples above.

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Swift 3

These extensions add a shuffle() method to any mutable collection and a shuffled() method to any sequence:

extension MutableCollection where Indices.Iterator.Element == Index {     /// Shuffles the contents of this collection.     mutating func shuffle() {         let c = count         guard c > 1 else { return }          for (firstUnshuffled , unshuffledCount) in zip(indices, stride(from: c, to: 1, by: -1)) {             // Change `Int` in the next line to `IndexDistance` in < Swift 3.2             let d: Int = numericCast(arc4random_uniform(numericCast(unshuffledCount)))             guard d != 0 else { continue }             let i = index(firstUnshuffled, offsetBy: d)             self.swapAt(firstUnshuffled, i)         }     } }  extension Sequence {     /// Returns an array with the contents of this sequence, shuffled.     func shuffled() -> [Iterator.Element] {         var result = Array(self)         result.shuffle()         return result     } } 

Same usage as in Swift 4.2 examples above.

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Swift 2

(obsolete language: you can't use Swift 2.x to publish on iTunes Connect starting July 2018)

extension MutableCollectionType where Index == Int {     /// Shuffle the elements of `self` in-place.     mutating func shuffleInPlace() {         // empty and single-element collections don't shuffle         if count < 2 { return }          for i in startIndex ..< endIndex - 1 {             let j = Int(arc4random_uniform(UInt32(count - i))) + i             guard i != j else { continue }             swap(&self[i], &self[j])         }     } }  extension CollectionType {     /// Return a copy of `self` with its elements shuffled.     func shuffle() -> [Generator.Element] {         var list = Array(self)         list.shuffleInPlace()         return list     } } 

Usage:

[1, 2, 3].shuffle() // [2, 3, 1]  let fiveStrings = 0.stride(through: 100, by: 5).map(String.init).shuffle() // ["20", "45", "70", "30", ...]  var numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4] numbers.shuffleInPlace() // [3, 2, 1, 4] 

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Swift 1.2

(obsolete language: you can't use Swift 1.x to publish on iTunes Connect starting July 2018)

shuffle as a mutating array method

This extension will let you shuffle a mutable Array instance in place:

extension Array {     mutating func shuffle() {         if count < 2 { return }         for i in 0..<(count - 1) {             let j = Int(arc4random_uniform(UInt32(count - i))) + i             swap(&self[i], &self[j])         }     } } var numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8] numbers.shuffle()                     // e.g., numbers == [6, 1, 8, 3, 2, 4, 7, 5] 

shuffled as a non-mutating array method

This extension will let you retrieve a shuffled copy of an Array instance:

extension Array {     func shuffled() -> [T] {         if count < 2 { return self }         var list = self         for i in 0..<(list.count - 1) {             let j = Int(arc4random_uniform(UInt32(list.count - i))) + i             swap(&list[i], &list[j])         }         return list     } } let numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8] let mixedup = numbers.shuffled()     // e.g., mixedup == [6, 1, 8, 3, 2, 4, 7, 5] 

Answer 2

Edit: As noted in other answers, Swift 4.2 finally adds random number generation to the standard library, complete with array shuffling.

However, the GKRandom / GKRandomDistribution suite in GameplayKit can still be useful with the new RandomNumberGenerator protocol — if you add extensions to the GameplayKit RNGs to conform to the new standard library protocol, you can easily get:

• sendable RNGs (that can reproduce a "random" sequence when needed for testing)
• RNGs that sacrifice robustness for speed
• RNGs that produce non-uniform distributions

...and still make use of the nice new "native" random APIs in Swift.

The rest of this answer concerns such RNGs and/or their use in older Swift compilers.

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There are some good answers here already, as well as some good illustrations of why writing your own shuffle can be error-prone if you're not careful.

In iOS 9, macOS 10.11, and tvOS 9 (or later), you don't have to write your own. There's an efficient, correct implementation of Fisher-Yates in GameplayKit (which, despite the name, is not just for games).

If you just want a unique shuffle:

let shuffled = GKRandomSource.sharedRandom().arrayByShufflingObjects(in: array) 

If you want to be able to replicate a shuffle or series of shuffles, choose and seed a specific random source; e.g.

let lcg = GKLinearCongruentialRandomSource(seed: mySeedValue) let shuffled = lcg.arrayByShufflingObjects(in: array) 

In iOS 10 / macOS 10.12 / tvOS 10, there's also a convenience syntax for shuffling via an extension on NSArray. Of course, that's a little cumbersome when you're using a Swift Array (and it loses its element type on coming back to Swift):

let shuffled1 = (array as NSArray).shuffled(using: random) // -> [Any] let shuffled2 = (array as NSArray).shuffled() // use default random source 

But it's pretty easy to make a type-preserving Swift wrapper for it:

extension Array {     func shuffled(using source: GKRandomSource) -> [Element] {         return (self as NSArray).shuffled(using: source) as! [Element]     }     func shuffled() -> [Element] {         return (self as NSArray).shuffled() as! [Element]     } } let shuffled3 = array.shuffled(using: random) let shuffled4 = array.shuffled()