What's the Best Way to Shuffle an NSMutableArray?

Question

I solved this by adding a category to NSMutableArray.

Edit: Removed unnecessary method thanks to answer by Ladd.

Edit: Changed (arc4random() % nElements) to arc4random_uniform(nElements) thanks to answer by Gregory Goltsov and comments by miho and blahdiblah

Edit: Loop improvement, thanks to comment by Ron

Edit: Added check that array is not empty, thanks to comment by Mahesh Agrawal

//  NSMutableArray_Shuffling.h

#if TARGET_OS_IPHONE
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#else
#include <Cocoa/Cocoa.h>
#endif

// This category enhances NSMutableArray by providing
// methods to randomly shuffle the elements.
@interface NSMutableArray (Shuffling)
- (void)shuffle;
@end


//  NSMutableArray_Shuffling.m

#import "NSMutableArray_Shuffling.h"

@implementation NSMutableArray (Shuffling)

- (void)shuffle
{
    NSUInteger count = [self count];
    if (count <= 1) return;
    for (NSUInteger i = 0; i < count - 1; ++i) {
        NSInteger remainingCount = count - i;
        NSInteger exchangeIndex = i + arc4random_uniform((u_int32_t )remainingCount);
        [self exchangeObjectAtIndex:i withObjectAtIndex:exchangeIndex];
    }
}

@end

You don't need the swapObjectAtIndex method. exchangeObjectAtIndex:withObjectAtIndex: already exists.

Since I can't yet comment, I thought I'd contribute a full response. I modified Kristopher Johnson's implementation for my project in a number of ways (really trying to make it as concise as possible), one of them being arc4random_uniform() because it avoids modulo bias.

// NSMutableArray+Shuffling.h
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

/** This category enhances NSMutableArray by providing methods to randomly
 * shuffle the elements using the Fisher-Yates algorithm.
 */
@interface NSMutableArray (Shuffling)
- (void)shuffle;
@end

// NSMutableArray+Shuffling.m
#import "NSMutableArray+Shuffling.h"

@implementation NSMutableArray (Shuffling)

- (void)shuffle
{
    NSUInteger count = [self count];
    for (uint i = 0; i < count - 1; ++i)
    {
        // Select a random element between i and end of array to swap with.
        int nElements = count - i;
        int n = arc4random_uniform(nElements) + i;
        [self exchangeObjectAtIndex:i withObjectAtIndex:n];
    }
}

@end

If you import GameplayKit, there is a shuffled API:

https://developer.apple.com/reference/foundation/nsarray/1640855-shuffled

let shuffledArray = array.shuffled()