i have a test script which grabs 5 of 5 questions from nine different categories (Question [1-9]) as shown...

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open FDESK, "questions.txt" or die print "<br>Cannot open file questions.txt: $!";
flock FDESK, LOCK_SH;
@quest=<FDESK>;
close FDESK;
chomp @quest;
$num=1;
for ($i=0; $i<=$#quest; $i++)
{
next unless $quest[$i]=~/Question [1-9]/;
for ($j=1; $j<=5; $j++)
--------------------------------------------------------------

i want to increase the number of questions to @15 in questions.txt and then have the script randomly select 5 questions out of those 15 (not the first five everytime). how would i implement such a randomized question grabbing in the above code?

Hi,

Different context, same solution. Time for my random array element selection one-liner again.

Put all your questions in @questions - one question in each array element (that's what you're doing now, I think). Then do this:-

@chosen = grep {$::z++ < 5} sort { int(rand() * 2) } @questions, $::z = 0;

@chosen will contain 5 questions out of @questions, randomly selected. If you're not sure how it works, here's the explanation I posted last time I pulled this one out:-

http://www.programmersheaven.com/c/MsgBoard/read.asp?Board=12&MsgID=218626&Setting=A9999F0003

Hope this helps,

Jonathan

###
for(74,117,115,116){$::a.=chr};(($_.='qwertyui')&&
(tr/yuiqwert/her anot/))for($::b);for($::c){$_.=$^X;
/(p.{2}l)/;$_=$1}$::b=~/(..)$/;print("$::a$::b $::c hack$1.");

the thing is there are nine categories of questions, Question 1, Question 2... so i want 5 random questions from each of the nine categories.

: Hi,
:
: Different context, same solution. Time for my random array element selection one-liner again.
:
: Put all your questions in @questions - one question in each array element (that's what you're doing now, I think). Then do this:-
:
: @chosen = grep {$::z++ < 5} sort { int(rand() * 2) } @questions, $::z = 0;
:
: @chosen will contain 5 questions out of @questions, randomly selected. If you're not sure how it works, here's the explanation I posted last time I pulled this one out:-
:
: http://www.programmersheaven.com/c/MsgBoard/read.asp?Board=12&MsgID=218626&Setting=A9999F0003
:
: Hope this helps,
:
: Jonathan
:
: ###
: for(74,117,115,116){$::a.=chr};(($_.='qwertyui')&&
: (tr/yuiqwert/her anot/))for($::b);for($::c){$_.=$^X;
: /(p.{2}l)/;$_=$1}$::b=~/(..)$/;print("$::a$::b $::c hack$1.");
:
:

: the thing is there are nine categories of questions, Question 1,
: Question 2... so i want 5 random questions from each of the nine
: categories.
OK, so you have an array of arrays (actually, an array of array references). Then you loop over the main array with the 9 groups of questions in, and use the code I gave you to select 5 questions from each group.

Jonathan


###
for(74,117,115,116){$::a.=chr};(($_.='qwertyui')&&
(tr/yuiqwert/her anot/))for($::b);for($::c){$_.=$^X;
/(p.{2}l)/;$_=$1}$::b=~/(..)$/;print("$::a$::b $::c hack$1.");