This is ugly, but it seems to "work": 
#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;

my %hash = (foo=>1, bar=>2, baz=>3);

print $hash{[keys %hash]->[int rand keys %hash]};

[download]
However, it still creates the "temporary array", it just makes it anonymous, inline, and therefore impossible to reuse (so, you go through all that trouble for no really good reason.) If you plan to, in your code, retrieve random keys more than once, I suggest just keeping the array around to save the cost of recreation. That is, until one of the more perl-gifted monks gives you a better answer than this :)

In reply to Re: easy way to get random key from hash? by eduardo
in thread easy way to get random key from hash? by moof1138

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.