randomly insert elements in arrays using jQuery

Question

If I have an array of 10 elements (sequence is important)

and I want to insert four elements at random spots, without messing up the order of the existing array

what is the best way?

Thanks and Merry Christmas

I don;t fully understand. If I have a list like [A,B,C] and i randomly inserted D, then wouldn't the resulting [A,D,B,C] mess up the order of the existing array? — alex
– alex, Commented Dec 23, 2014 at 21:33
Not too random if you don't want to mess with the existing order. — tymeJV
– tymeJV, Commented Dec 23, 2014 at 21:38

charlietfl · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-23 21:46:01Z

4

Use splice()

var a = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10];
var b = [20, 21, 22, 23];

for (i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
    var idx = Math.floor(Math.random() * a.length);
    a.splice(idx, 0, b[i]);
}

console.log(a)
// returns something like [23, 1, 2, 3, 22, 4, 5, 6, 7, 20, 8, 21, 9, 10]

Reference MDN Array.prototype.splice() docs

If this is not the expected output please provide a sample

edited Dec 23, 2014 at 21:46

answered Dec 23, 2014 at 21:40

charlietfl

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Comments

RicardoE · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-23 21:38:59Z

0

Try this:

var myArray = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0];

for(i=0; i<4; i++) {
    var randomSpot = Math.floor(Math.random() * 10);    
    myArray[randomSpot] = i;
}

answered Dec 23, 2014 at 21:38

RicardoE

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