Softonic

List Randomizer

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Paste any list, one item per line, and get it back in a genuinely random order, or pull out a single item at random. Handy for drawing raffles, deciding who goes first, shuffling questions, picking a reviewer or just breaking decision paralysis. Shuffle as many times as you like until you are happy with the order.

How to randomize a list

  1. 1

    Paste your items

    One per line. Blank lines are ignored.

  2. 2

    Shuffle or pick

    Hit "Shuffle list" for the whole list in random order, or "Pick one" to pull a single random item.

  3. 3

    Reuse the result

    Copy the shuffled list, or shuffle again for a fresh order every time.

How the shuffle works

Every item is equally likely to land in any position, so no entry is biased toward the top or bottom of the list. Shuffle again and you get an independent, fresh order each time.

Why not just “sort by random”?

Sorting with a random comparator (list.sort(() => Math.random() - 0.5)) is a well-known trap. The orderings it produces are not evenly spread: some come up far more often than others, and the bias depends on the sort routine. A proper shuffle treats every ordering as equally likely.

Common use cases

Task How to do it
Raffle winner Paste the entrants, shuffle, take the first
Presentation order Paste the names, shuffle, present top to bottom
Pairing (1 and 2, 3 and 4) Shuffle, then read two at a time
Reviewer rotation Shuffle and take the first few
Decision paralysis Paste the options and pick one

Frequently Asked Questions

For casual raffles, yes: the order is uniformly random. For regulated gaming or any draw where the result could be challenged, use an audited service that records a verifiable seed.

Very long lists shuffle without trouble. Extremely large lists are mainly limited by how much text is comfortable to paste and copy back.

Yes. Each line is treated as its own item, so if the same name appears twice it stays twice in the shuffled result.

No. The result does not depend on the order you paste items in, so an alphabetical list and a reversed one give equally random outcomes.

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