Generate 'n' unique random numbers within a range
You could add to a set
until you reach n
:
setOfNumbers = set()
while len(setOfNumbers) < n:
setOfNumbers.add(random.randint(numLow, numHigh))
Be careful of having a smaller range than will fit in n
. It will loop forever, unable to find new numbers to insert up to n
If you just need sampling without replacement:
>>> import random
>>> random.sample(range(1, 100), 3)
[77, 52, 45]
random.sample takes a population and a sample size k
and returns k
random members of the population.
If you have to control for the case where k
is larger than len(population)
, you need to be prepared to catch a ValueError
:
>>> try:
... random.sample(range(1, 2), 3)
... except ValueError:
... print('Sample size exceeded population size.')
...
Sample size exceeded population size
Generate the range of data first and then shuffle it like this
import random
data = list(range(numLow, numHigh))
random.shuffle(data)
print data
By doing this way, you will get all the numbers in the particular range but in a random order.
But you can use random.sample
to get the number of elements you need, from a range of numbers like this
print random.sample(range(numLow, numHigh), 3)