Getting a random object from NSArray without duplication

Question

I have an NSArray with 17 objects, something like this:

NSArray *objArray = [[NSArray alloc]initWithObjects: @"1",@"2",@"3",@"4",@"5",@"6"
,@"7",@"8",@"9",@"10",@"11",@"12",@"13",@"14",@"15",@"16",@"17", nil];

and an int with a random number as follows:

int random = arc4random()%17+1;

I want to get a random object from this NSArray without it being a duplicate, even if I closed the app (maybe by using NSUserDefaults).

If I've gotten all the objects I want to generate a new random sequence for the same objects.

Answer 1

You could do this by making a mutable copy of the array, and after you make a random selection from that array, remove that same object. When you want to save the array, save the mutable array itself, so can resume where you left off when the app restarts. This little test app does that, and just logs the value of the random pick:

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];
    self.objArray = @[@"1",@"2",@"3",@"4",@"5",@"6",@"7",@"8",@"9",@"10",@"11",@"12",@"13",@"14",@"15",@"16",@"17"];
    self.mut = [self.objArray mutableCopy];
}

-(IBAction)pickNumber:(id)sender {
    int index = arc4random_uniform(self.mut.count);
     NSLog(@"%@", self.mut[index]);
    [self.mut removeObjectAtIndex:index];
    if (self.mut.count == 0) {
        self.mut = [self.objArray mutableCopy];
        NSLog(@"*******************");
    }
}