Use random.choice():
import random
foo = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e']
print(random.choice(foo))
For cryptographically secure random choices (e.g., for generating a passphrase from a wordlist), use secrets.choice():
import secrets
foo = ['battery', 'correct', 'horse', 'staple']
print(secrets.choice(foo))
secrets is new in Python 3.6. On older versions of Python you can use the random.SystemRandom class:
import random
secure_random = random.SystemRandom()
print(secure_random.choice(foo))
GeeksforGeeks
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Randomly Select N Elements from List in Python - GeeksforGeeks
July 15, 2025 - When working with lists in Python, we often need to randomly select a specific number of elements. For example, consider the list a = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100]. We might want to randomly select 3 elements from this list.
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Python random choice() function to select a random item from a List and Set
July 22, 2023 - Use random.choice() function to randomly select an item from a list, String, Dictionary, and set. Pick a single random number from a range
python - Select 50 items from list at random - Stack Overflow
I have a function which reads a list of items from a file. How can I select only 50 items from the list randomly to write to another file? def randomizer(input, output='random.txt'): query = open( More on stackoverflow.com
python - How to get randomly select n elements from a list using in numpy? - Stack Overflow
0 Randomly selecting an element (float numbers, not integers) from an array python? 3 Create numpy array with random elements from list More on stackoverflow.com
Is there a single command to randomly select an item from a list and then delete it?
You can random.shuffle() the list and just iterate over it. It would produce the same effect. More on reddit.com
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March 31, 2018Optimal way for retrieving a random element from a set?
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15993447/python-data-structure-for-efficient-add-remove-and-random-choice More on reddit.com
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October 8, 2023How do I select one random item from a Python list?
Use random.choice on a non-empty sequence; it returns one element and raises IndexError for an empty sequence.
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Randomly Select From a List in Python: choice, sample, and choices
Should I use random or secrets for security?
Use secrets.choice for security-sensitive decisions such as tokens or recovery choices; random is for ordinary simulation and application behavior.
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Randomly Select From a List in Python: choice, sample, and choices
How do I select items with replacement?
Use random.choices when repeated selections are allowed or when weights should influence the result.
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Randomly Select From a List in Python: choice, sample, and choices
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Top answer 1 of 16
3547
Use random.choice():
import random
foo = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e']
print(random.choice(foo))
For cryptographically secure random choices (e.g., for generating a passphrase from a wordlist), use secrets.choice():
import secrets
foo = ['battery', 'correct', 'horse', 'staple']
print(secrets.choice(foo))
secrets is new in Python 3.6. On older versions of Python you can use the random.SystemRandom class:
import random
secure_random = random.SystemRandom()
print(secure_random.choice(foo))
2 of 16
307
If you want to randomly select more than one item from a list, or select an item from a set, I'd recommend using random.sample instead.
import random
group_of_items = {'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'} # a sequence or set will work here.
num_to_select = 2 # set the number to select here.
list_of_random_items = random.sample(group_of_items, num_to_select)
first_random_item = list_of_random_items[0]
second_random_item = list_of_random_items[1]
If you're only pulling a single item from a list though, choice is less clunky, as using sample would have the syntax random.sample(some_list, 1)[0] instead of random.choice(some_list).
Unfortunately though, choice only works for a single output from sequences (such as lists or tuples). Though random.choice(tuple(some_set)) may be an option for getting a single item from a set.
EDIT: Using Secrets
As many have pointed out, if you require more secure pseudorandom samples, you should use the secrets module:
import secrets # imports secure module.
secure_random = secrets.SystemRandom() # creates a secure random object.
group_of_items = {'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'} # a sequence or set will work here.
num_to_select = 2 # set the number to select here.
list_of_random_items = secure_random.sample(group_of_items, num_to_select)
first_random_item = list_of_random_items[0]
second_random_item = list_of_random_items[1]
EDIT: Pythonic One-Liner
If you want a more pythonic one-liner for selecting multiple items, you can use unpacking.
import random
first_random_item, second_random_item = random.sample({'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'}, 2)
Stack Abuse
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How to Randomly Select Elements from a List in Python
September 27, 2023 - import random def select_random_Ns(lst, n): random.shuffle(lst) result = [] for i in range(0, len(lst), n): result.append(lst[i:i + n]) return result lst = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9] print(select_random_Ns(lst, 2)) This results in a list of random pairs, without repetition: ... In this article, ...
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Random Sampling from a List in Python: random.choice, sample, choices | note.nkmk.me
May 19, 2025 - Concatenate Strings in Python: + Operator, join, etc. print(tuple(random.sample(('xxx', 'yyy', 'zzz'), 2))) # ('zzz', 'yyy') print(''.join(random.sample('abcde', 2))) # be ... Note that if the original list or tuple contains duplicate elements, the same values may be selected.
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Select random value from a list-Python - GeeksforGeeks
July 11, 2025 - The goal here is to randomly select a value from a list in Python. For example, given a list [1, 4, 5, 2, 7], we want to retrieve a single randomly chosen element, such as 5. There are several ways to achieve this, each varying in terms of simplicity, efficiency and use case. Let's explore different approaches to accomplish this task. random.choice() picks an element at random without any need for indexing, making it ideal for quick selections.
Python documentation
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random โ Generate pseudo-random numbers
This module implements pseudo-random number generators for various distributions. For integers, there is uniform selection from a range. For sequences, there is uniform selection of a random element, a function to generate a random permutation of a list in-place, and a function for random sampling without replacement.
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Randomly Select N Elements from a List in Python
population: The list (or iterable) to sample from. weights/cum_weights: Optional weights for weighted sampling (e.g., biased dice rolls). k: The number of elements to select (can be larger than the length of population). import random my_list = [1, 2, 3] # Select 5 elements (with possible repeats) choices = random.choices(my_list, k=5) print(choices) # Example output: [2, 3, 2, 1, 3]
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Python: Select Random Element from a List โข datagy
December 19, 2022 - To use Python to select random elements without replacement, we can use the random.sample() function. The function accepts two parameters: the list to sample from and the number of items to sample.
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Randomly Select From a List in Python: choice, sample, and choices
July 13, 2026 - For valid RGB, hexadecimal, and named-color generation rather than arbitrary list items, continue with Generate Random Colors in Python. Check that the list has items before calling choice(). This avoids an IndexError for empty input. import random names = [] if names: selected = random.choice(names) else: selected = "No names available" print(selected)
CodeRivers
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Selecting `n` Random Items from a List in Python - CodeRivers
February 22, 2026 - In this example, we import the random module, define a list my_list, and specify the number of items n we want to select. The random.sample() function returns a new list containing n unique random items from my_list.
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Randomly Select Element From List in Python Using choices() - Newtum
April 24, 2024 - In conclusion, the Python code ... random.choices() function to randomly select element from a list. By importing the random module and declaring a list, we can generate a random selection of elements. The code allows us to specify the number of elements to be selected by initializing the variable n...
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Python Random Sample from List - Complete Guide 2026
June 16, 2026 - It also supports weighted sampling, where some elements have a higher probability of being selected than others. numpy.random.choice() is the NumPy equivalent for random sampling and is the preferred tool in data science contexts when working with NumPy arrays. It supports both with and without replacement, weighted sampling, and works efficiently with large datasets. In NumPy 1.17 and later, the recommended approach is to use the Generator API: rng = numpy.random.default_rng(seed=42) then rng.choice(population, size=k, replace=False).
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Select Random Element from A List in Python - PythonForBeginners.com
February 24, 2022 - For this, we will use the โsizeโ parameter of the function. If we want to select n random elements from a given list, we will pass the number n as the second input argument to the choice() function defined in the numpy module.
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Randomly select elements from list without repetition in Python - GeeksforGeeks
July 15, 2025 - random.shuffle() function randomly rearranges the list, and we can take the first n elements as the selection. ... import random a = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50] # Shuffling the list random.shuffle(a) # Selecting first 3 elements res = a[:3] print(res) ...
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How can I randomly select an item from a list in Python? | Better Stack Community
To randomly select an item from a list in Python, you can use the random.choice() function from the random module.
Top answer 1 of 5
417
If the list is in random order, you can just take the first 50.
Otherwise, use
import random
random.sample(the_list, 50)
random.sample help text:
sample(self, population, k) method of random.Random instance
Chooses k unique random elements from a population sequence.
Returns a new list containing elements from the population while
leaving the original population unchanged. The resulting list is
in selection order so that all sub-slices will also be valid random
samples. This allows raffle winners (the sample) to be partitioned
into grand prize and second place winners (the subslices).
Members of the population need not be hashable or unique. If the
population contains repeats, then each occurrence is a possible
selection in the sample.
To choose a sample in a range of integers, use xrange as an argument.
This is especially fast and space efficient for sampling from a
large population: sample(xrange(10000000), 60)
2 of 5
52
One easy way to select random items is to shuffle then slice.
import random
a = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
random.shuffle(a)
print a[:4] # prints 4 random variables
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Python: 3 Ways to Select Random Elements from a List - Sling Academy
July 6, 2023 - In case you only need to get a single random element from a list, you can use the random.choice() function: