Randomly match items of list together. I'm using this to match siblings together for Christmas gift giving.

random_matcher.py

"""Randomly match list items together."""
import sys
import random

if len(sys.argv) < 2:
    raise('Must pass in list of items (Ex: "John,Michael,Alan,Bryanne"')

try:
    seed = sys.argv[2]
except IndexError:
    seed = None

random.seed(seed)

items = sys.argv[1].split(',')
random.shuffle(items)

total = len(items)
i = 0
while i < total:
    if total - i == 1:
        print('%s' % items[i])
    else:
        print('%s -- %s' % (items[i], items[i + 1]))
    i += 2