Generate random letter A-Z Swift

Question

I am trying to create a tile-based word game using swift, and I need to randomize the letters that show up on the tiles (from A-Z). I have been reading about different ways to do this, but I haven't been able to make it work for a specific variable. I currently have a variable defined:

var availableTiles: [Character]!

Since I have been working on the layouts and interface, I have only manually input letters so far just to make sure they show up properly:

func randomizeAvailableLetter() {

    availableTiles = ["X", "B", "F", "H", "K", "V"]

}

As you can see, the letters that show up on the 6 tiles are just hardcoded in, but I need for these letters to be random. What would I replace the hardcoded part with in order to make the letters that show up randomized?

What are the rules for "these letters" to be "random"? Do you mean that each of the 6 letters can be any letter from A to Z? — matt, Jan 23 '17 at 01:13
Yes, There is one letter per tile and it can be any letter A-Z. — Ben M., Jan 23 '17 at 01:14
Possible duplicate of [Generate random alphanumeric string in Swift](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26845307/generate-random-alphanumeric-string-in-swift) — , Jan 23 '17 at 01:14

Sash Sinha · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-23T02:09:25.910

3

You could use a function that is something like this:

func randomizeAvailableLetters(tileArraySize: Int) -> Array<String> {
  let alphabet: [String] = ["A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F", "G", "H", "I", "J", "K", "L", "M", "N", "O", "P", "Q", "R", "S", "T", "U", "V", "W", "X", "Y", "Z"]
  var availableTiles = [String]()
  for i in 0..<tileArraySize {
    let rand = Int(arc4random_uniform(26))
    availableTiles.append(alphabet[rand])
  }
  return(availableTiles)
}

print(randomizeAvailableLetters(tileArraySize: 6)) //["X", "B", "F", "H", "K", "V"]

edited Jan 23 '17 at 02:09

answered Jan 23 '17 at 01:49

Sash Sinha

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Where I have this code under viewDidLoad : `randomizeAvailableLetters()` it gives me one error when I try to add the code you suggested: "Missing argument for parameter 'tileArraySize' in call" – Ben M. Jan 23 '17 at 02:15
`tileArraySize` is the size of your array i.e `6` call it using `randomizeAvailableLetters(tileArraySize: 6))` or just modify the function to not use the parameter if you always have an array of size 6 – Sash Sinha Jan 23 '17 at 02:19

Generate random letter A-Z Swift

1 Answers1