#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

#pick a "random arg from a list"

my @names = qw(ny.txt ca.txt nj.txt pa.txt ma.txt wa.txt);

my $random_file = $names[rand(@names)]; #UPDATE: previous code had
                                        #an "off-by-one" error, Oops!
print "$random_file\n";


##</code><code>##

#Chapter 8.6. Picking a Random Line from a File
#Problem: You want to return a random line from a file.
#Use rand and $. (the current line number) to decide
#which line to print:

srand;
rand($.) < 1 && ($line = $_) while <>;