How to shuffle the elements of an ArrayList in Kotlin

How to shuffle the elements of an ArrayList in Kotlin.

How to Shuffle the Elements of an ArrayList in Kotlin

In Kotlin, shuffling the elements of an ArrayList can be done using the shuffle() function provided by the Collections class. This function randomly reorders the elements in the ArrayList.

Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how to shuffle the elements of an ArrayList in Kotlin:

Step 1: Create an ArrayList

First, you need to create an ArrayList and populate it with elements. Here's an example of how to create an ArrayList of integers:

val numbers = ArrayList<Int>()
numbers.add(1)
numbers.add(2)
numbers.add(3)
numbers.add(4)
numbers.add(5)

Step 2: Import the Collections class

To use the shuffle() function, you need to import the shuffle() function from the Collections class. Add the following import statement at the top of your Kotlin file:

import java.util.Collections

Step 3: Shuffle the ArrayList

Now, you can shuffle the elements of the ArrayList using the shuffle() function. Here's how to do it:

Collections.shuffle(numbers)

After this line of code, the elements in the numbers ArrayList will be randomly reordered.

Example:

Here's a complete example that demonstrates shuffling the elements of an ArrayList:

import java.util.Collections

fun main() {
    val numbers = ArrayList<Int>()
    numbers.add(1)
    numbers.add(2)
    numbers.add(3)
    numbers.add(4)
    numbers.add(5)

    println("Before shuffling: $numbers")

    Collections.shuffle(numbers)

    println("After shuffling: $numbers")
}

Output:

Before shuffling: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
After shuffling: [2, 1, 4, 5, 3]

In this example, the numbers ArrayList is shuffled using the Collections.shuffle() function. The output shows the ArrayList before and after shuffling.

Conclusion

Shuffling the elements of an ArrayList in Kotlin is easy using the shuffle() function provided by the Collections class. By following the steps outlined in this tutorial, you can shuffle the elements of any ArrayList in your Kotlin projects.