Secret santa algorithm

Question

Every Christmas we draw names for gift exchanges in my family. This usually involves mulitple redraws until no one has pulled their spouse. So this year I coded up my own

Answer 1

I wouldn't use disallowed pairings, since that greatly increases the complexity of the problem. Just enter everyone's name and address into a list. Create a copy of the list and keep shuffling it until the addresses in each position of the two lists don't match. This will ensure that no one gets themselves, or their spouse.

As a bonus, if you want to do this secret-ballot-style, print envelopes from the first list and names from the second list. Don't peek while stuffing the envelopes. (Or you could just automate emailing everyone thier pick.)

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