Building a simple randomizer which includes a dot, an underscore, the letter A and the letter B

Question

Basically, I want to build a randomizer that can produce an output with following possible combinations:

.
. .
. . .
_
_ _
_ _ _
. _
_ .
. . _
_ . .
. _ _
_ _ .
_ . _
. _ .

and finally, preppend the letter A and B randomly at the beginning.

e.g.:

A . _
B _ _
A . . _
A _ .
B . _ _
A .

etc.

Any ideas of how to accomplish this with JavaScript?

You don't need jQuery to do this. Plain JavaScript will do the job. — Diodeus - James MacFarlane, Jun 20 '12 at 14:36
@Diodeus Oh yeah, I think you are right. I modified the question. — alexchenco, Jun 20 '12 at 14:37
Yes: put sequences in array and use `Math.random` with array's `.length` to retrieve it. Do "A"/"B" in either same way or with simple `?`. This is kind of really just way too basic. — Oleg V. Volkov, Jun 20 '12 at 14:42

Esailija · Answer 1 · 2012-06-20T14:45:30.337

2

var a = [
    ".",
    ". .",
    ". . .",
    "_",
    "_ _",
    "_ _ _",
    ". _",
    "_ .",
    ". . _",
    "_ . .",
    ". _ _",
    "_ _ .",
    "_ . _",
    ". _ ."
    ],

    b = ["A ", "B "];



    function getRandom() {
        return b[Math.random()*b.length|0] + a[Math.random()*a.length|0];
    }

    getRandom(); //"A ."
    getRandom(); //"A _ _ _"
    getRandom(); //"B . _ _"

With a loop:

var l = 20;
while(l--) console.log( getRandom() );

edited Jun 20 '12 at 14:45

answered Jun 20 '12 at 14:40

Esailija

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Thanks a lot! I guess the best thing to do is to create a loop so that the result can be go until a certain number. – alexchenco Jun 20 '12 at 14:44
@alexchenco I have added a loop – Esailija Jun 20 '12 at 14:45
Thanks a lot! Not sure which answer to choose. I guess I'll wait until people vote. – alexchenco Jun 20 '12 at 14:46

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:28

2

Here's another way: http://jsfiddle.net/8AHaw/

function makeid() {
    var text = "";
    var possibleChars = "._";
    var possibleLetters = "AB";

    text += possibleLetters.charAt(Math.floor(Math.random() * possibleLetters.length));
    for( var i=0; i < Math.floor(Math.random() * 3)+1; i++ )
        text += " " + possibleChars.charAt(Math.floor(Math.random() * possibleChars.length));

    return text;
}

for (var i=0; i < 20; i++)
    $("body").append("<div>" + makeid() + "</div>");

Adapted from Generate random string/characters in JavaScript

edited May 23 '17 at 10:28

Community

1
1

answered Jun 20 '12 at 14:42

Kevin B

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Sorry, one last thing; how do I add spaces between each character, like in my example above? – alexchenco Jun 20 '12 at 14:58
1

@alexchenco Add `" " +` before `possibleChars.charAt(` http://jsfiddle.net/8AHaw/1/ – Kevin B Jun 20 '12 at 15:37

Building a simple randomizer which includes a dot, an underscore, the letter A and the letter B

2 Answers2

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