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.

---

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.

---

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]

---

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]