List Randomizer

The List Randomizer takes a list you paste in, one item per line, and returns the same items in a shuffled order. The counter next to the label shows how many items it has read, blank lines are ignored, and the result has a Copy button so you can drop the shuffled list straight back into a document or a spreadsheet column. It works for names, tasks, questions, song titles or anything else you can put on separate lines.

Using it

Paste or type your items into the box. Anything on its own line counts as one item, so "Alice Smith" stays together and a line that's only spaces is dropped. Press Randomize and the shuffled list appears below with each item on its own line. Press again to reshuffle the same input, or edit the box and randomize a new list. There's no limit on the number of items beyond what your browser is happy to display; lists of a few hundred lines are fine.

What you get back

Every item you entered, exactly once, in a new order. The tool never drops or duplicates lines and it doesn't trim or change the text, so if your list has "apple" twice, the output will too. If you want a subset rather than a full shuffle, for example three winners from forty entrants, the Random Picker is the better tool; this page is for reordering the whole list.

Common uses

• Presentation or performance order. Paste the names of students, speakers or bands and let the shuffle decide who goes first, with no accusations of favoritism.
• Randomized question banks. Teachers shuffle exam questions or flashcards so that the order doesn't give away the answers.
• Seating and batting orders. A quick way to scramble a roster for a game, a dinner party or a rota.
• Survey and experiment design. Randomizing the order of options or stimuli reduces order effects. Paste the list once per participant and copy each result.
• Reading, watching and playlists. Shuffle a backlog of books or films and commit to the order.

How random is the shuffle

The shuffle uses the browser's built-in random number generator to reorder the list, which is fine for classrooms, games and everyday decisions. It is not a cryptographic shuffle and it isn't audited, so for a prize draw with money attached, use a method you can document. Nothing you paste is sent to a server: the shuffle runs entirely in your browser, and the list is gone when you leave the page.

Related tools

To split a shuffled list into groups, use the Random Team Generator; to match items from two lists, the Random Pair Generator. If you're running a draw, the Random Raffle Generator picks winners from a list of entries. More pickers and randomizers are listed under all fun, party & decision tools.