how to take random words from a sting matrix

i have a 1x9 matrix full of words, i want to randomly take 5 of them and put them into another matrix of 1x5 how would i go about this?

id also like to do something similar where i take a random number from a 1x20 array and asign it to a variable

Answer 1

[Voss]

Words = ["a","1","x","9","string","matrix","full","of","words"]

Words = 1×9 string array
    "a"    "1"    "x"    "9"    "string"    "matrix"    "full"    "of"    "words"

idx = randperm(numel(Words))

idx = 1×9

3 9 1 2 7 4 8 5 6

inOtherWords = Words(idx(1:5))

inOtherWords = 1×5 string array
    "x"    "words"    "a"    "1"    "full"

[Steven Lord]

That's one way to select elements without replacement (think dealing cards from a deck.) For selection with replacement (rolling a bunch of dice) use randi.

Words = ["a","1","x","9","string","matrix","full","of","words"]

Words = 1×9 string array
    "a"    "1"    "x"    "9"    "string"    "matrix"    "full"    "of"    "words"

idx = randi(numel(Words), 5, 5)

idx = 5×5

8 5 1 9 8 4 5 7 3 5 4 1 4 3 8 9 5 9 6 7 4 8 5 3 9

inOtherWords = Words(idx)

inOtherWords = 5×5 string array
    "of"       "string"    "a"         "words"     "of"    
    "9"        "string"    "full"      "x"         "string"
    "9"        "a"         "9"         "x"         "of"    
    "words"    "string"    "words"     "matrix"    "full"  
    "9"        "of"        "string"    "x"         "words" 

[finley]

omg thank you so much this was amazingly helpful

[finley]

is there a find function for these word values i cant seem to use the usual

if any( outputlootpool(1,:) == "coin" )
    coinfound=randi(40)
end

im trying to check if this random matric has a cirtain word and if yes give another variable a random number

[Voss]

@finley: What seems to be the problem?

outputlootpool = ["ruby","coin";"cash","gold"]

outputlootpool = 2×2 string array
    "ruby"    "coin"
    "cash"    "gold"

any( outputlootpool(1,:) == "coin" )

ans = logical
   1

[Walter Roberson]

ismember("coin", outputlootpool(1,:))

will return a single true / false value indicating whether "coin" is present

ismember(outputlootpool(1,:), "coin")

will return a vector the size of outputlootpool(1,:) indicating whether each one is "coin"

Answer 2

[Image Analyst]

"id also like to do something similar where i take a random number from a 1x20 array and asign it to a variable"

Try this:

yourVector = rand(1, 20) % Create sample data.

yourVector = 1×20

0.6875 0.6995 0.3919 0.9147 0.6881 0.4603 0.1065 0.1771 0.1242 0.5258 0.4778 0.6885 0.1576 0.3665 0.4577 0.1335 0.3837 0.7527 0.8594 0.3780

randomIndex = randi(numel(yourVector), 1)

randomIndex = 2

yourVariable = yourVector(randomIndex)

yourVariable = 0.6995

[finley]

thank you so much :))