Get a random Element from an Array using JavaScript

Get a random Element from an Array #

To get a random element from an array use the Math.floor() and Math.random functions to get a random array index, e.g. arr[Math.floor(Math.random() * arr.length)]. The expression returns a random array index, which you can access to get a random array element.

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const arr = ['one', 'two', 'three', 'four', 'five'];

const random = arr[Math.floor(Math.random() * arr.length)];

console.log(random); // 👉️ three

The expression in the square brackets [] evaluates to a random index in the array.

The Math.floor function, rounds a number down if the number has a decimal, otherwise it returns the number as is.

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console.log(Math.floor(4.99)); // 👉️ 4
console.log(Math.floor(4.01)); // 👉️ 4
console.log(Math.floor(4)); // 👉️ 4

The Math.random function returns a random number in the range 0 to less than 1. The function could return 0, but it could never return 1.

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console.log(Math.random()); // 👉️ 0.5434554...
console.log(Math.random()); // 👉️ 0.3348588...
console.log(Math.random()); // 👉️ 0.8547547...

// 👇️ Multiplied by array.length
const arr = ['one', 'two', 'three', 'four', 'five'];

console.log(Math.random() * arr.length); // 👉️ 1.335...
console.log(Math.random() * arr.length); // 👉️ 2.643...
console.log(Math.random() * arr.length); // 👉️ 0.393...
console.log(Math.random() * arr.length); // 👉️ 4.247...

The max value we could get is, if Math.random() returns 0.9999... and we multiply it by the array's length (5). We would get back a value of 4.995.

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console.log(0.999 * 5); // 👉️ 4.995

However, because indexes are zero-based in JavaScript and the last element in an array has an index of array.length - 1, we use the Math.floor() function to round the number down to the next integer, which is 4 (the last index in the array).

Conversely, the min value we could get is if Math.random() returns 0, we would then multiply that by the array's length and get 0 back.

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console.log(0 * 5); // 👉️ 0

Calling the Math.floor function on 0 would return the number as is and we would access the first element in the array.

The expression returns an index from 0 up to (but not including) array.length. Using this approach, we could never access an index out of bounds.

Here's the complete example.

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const arr = ['one', 'two', 'three', 'four', 'five'];

const random = arr[Math.floor(Math.random() * arr.length)];

console.log(random); // 👉️ five

Further Reading #

• Get Multiple Random Elements from an Array in JavaScript
• How to Initialize a Map with Values in JavaScript