shuf

Examples (TL;DR)

• Randomize the order of lines in a file and output the result: shuf filename
• Only output the first 5 entries of the result: shuf -n 5 filename
• Write the output to another file: shuf filename -o output_filename
• Generate random numbers in range: shuf -i 1-10

tldr.sh

Synopsis

shuf [OPTION]... [FILE]
shuf -e [OPTION]... [ARG]...
shuf -i LO-HI [OPTION]...

Description

Write a random permutation of the input lines to standard output.

With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

-e, --echo

treat each ARG as an input line

-i, --input-range=LO-HI

treat each number LO through HI as an input line

-n, --head-count=COUNT

output at most COUNT lines

-o, --output=FILE

write result to FILE instead of standard output

--random-source=FILE

get random bytes from FILE

-r, --repeat

output lines can be repeated

-z, --zero-terminated

line delimiter is NUL, not newline

--help

display this help and exit

--version

output version information and exit

Author

Written by Paul Eggert.

Reporting Bugs

GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

Copyright

Copyright © 2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

See Also

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/shuf>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) shuf invocation'

Referenced By

sort(1).