Combining the arrays is a neat idea but I think the way you do it is a bit unintuitive. Your %valid hash contains keys which are both valid and not valid members. Why not just create an array with the valid members and choose from it? Warning: This approach does come wiht a huge caveat. Explanation follows code.

my @one = qw( 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 );
my @two = qw( 1   5   9    13    17    21    );

my %valid; 

@valid{@one} = (1) x @one; 
@valid{@two} = (0) x @two; 

my @choices = keys %valid; 

sub randelt { $choices[rand @choices] }

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Huge Caveat: As this uses all of the elements to choose as hash keys in an intermediate step, it might change the likelihood of a particular element being chosen if it were originally duplicated. For instance, if the original array was qw( a a b c ) there would be a 1 in 4 chance that an 'a' would be chosen. After being used as hash keys, however, the list becomes qw( a b c ) and there is a 1 in 3 chance that 'a' will be chosen. Do not use this method if your original list has duplicate members.

-sauoq
"My two cents aren't worth a dime.";

In reply to Re: Re: Choosing a random product from an Array by sauoq
in thread Choosing a random product from an Array by krisraman

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