Roll n characters from given string

README.md

Usage

Randomly pick N characters from a given string(or standard input), just like rolling a dice repeatedly, then concatenate them into a single string.

Note

Please note that:

1. It might containe repeated items. If you want to just shuffle them, try removing -r option from shuf command.

2. It will treat unicode character as one item. see below:

   grep -o . <<< "I ♥  Gawr gura" | shuf -rn 20 | paste -sd ''
   # r♥wa raG   r ga w ♥♥
   # Guagwwu g ♥   uar♥  
   # ugIg  ♥GrG  ur rIwu 
   # ...

   use fold instead if you are aware of what exactly you are trying to do.

   fold -w 1 <<< "I ♥  Gawr gura" | shuf -rn 20 | paste -sd ''
   # IwIg  gGg  �rI ��wG 
   # G�Iw� GGa rr  aIr �G
   # G G� a u � Gur�ugw w
   # ...

3. It will pick 10 characters by default if you haven't specified anything yet.

   ./roll.sh <<< ABC
   # BAAACBBACA

   ./roll.sh 3 <<< ABC
   # CCA

roll.sh

#!/bin/sh
grep -o . | shuf -rn ${1:-10} | paste -sd ''