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Random extraction of 5 cards from a deck

By , 26 Jan 2010
 
The question: "How can I extract 5 random cards from a deck?" (or similar), appears every now and then at the C/C++ forum.
 
I use the following method:
 
const int CARDS = 52;
int card[CARDS]; // the 'card' array represents all of the cards
int i, deck_cards;
// initialization
for (i=0; i< CARDS; i++)
  card[i]=i;
// 'deck_cards' is the limit of the deck, it separates the 
// cards still inside the deck from the extracted ones
deck_cards = CARDS;
 
// random extraction of five cards
for (i=0; i<5; i++)
{
  // r is the newly extracted card index
  int r = rand() % deck_cards;
 
  // the trick is here: we move the choosen card at the current deck
  // limit and decrease the deck size by one.
  // this is accomplished swapping card[r] with card[deck_cards-1]
  int temp = card[r];
  card[r] = card[deck_cards-1];
  card[deck_cards-1] = temp;
 
  deck_cards--;
}
// now let't print out the random choosen cards
for (i=0; i<5; i++)
{
  printf("extracted card[%d]=%d\n", i, card[deck_cards+i]
}
 
Is worth noting we don't need at all the deck_cards variable, in the extraction loop:
for (i=0; i<5; i++)
{ 
  // r is the newly extracted card index
  int r = rand() % (CARDS-i);  
  // swap card[r] with card[CARDS-1-i]
  int temp = card[r];
  card[r] = card[CARDS-1-i];
  card[CARDS-1-i] = temp;
}
:)

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

About the Author

CPallini
Software Developer (Senior) AEM S.p.A.
Italy Italy
Member




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