How do I select a random value from an enumeration?

Question

Given an arbitrary enumeration in C#, how do I select a random value?

(I did not find this very basic question on SO. I\'ll post my answer in a minute as reference f

Answer 1

Here's an alternative version as an Extension Method using LINQ.

using System;
using System.Linq;

public static class EnumExtensions
{
    public static Enum GetRandomEnumValue(this Type t)
    {
        return Enum.GetValues(t)          // get values from Type provided
            .OfType<Enum>()               // casts to Enum
            .OrderBy(e => Guid.NewGuid()) // mess with order of results
            .FirstOrDefault();            // take first item in result
    }
}

public static class Program
{
    public enum SomeEnum
    {
        One = 1,
        Two = 2,
        Three = 3,
        Four = 4
    }

    public static void Main()
    {
        for(int i=0; i < 10; i++)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(typeof(SomeEnum).GetRandomEnumValue());
        }
    }           
}

Two
One
Four
Four
Four
Three
Two
Four
One
Three

Answer 2

Personally, I'm a fan of extension methods, so I would use something like this (while not really an extension, it looks similar):

public enum Options {
    Zero,
    One,
    Two,
    Three,
    Four,
    Five
}

public static class RandomEnum {
    private static Random _Random = new Random(Environment.TickCount);

    public static T Of<T>() {
        if (!typeof(T).IsEnum)
            throw new InvalidOperationException("Must use Enum type");

        Array enumValues = Enum.GetValues(typeof(T));
        return (T)enumValues.GetValue(_Random.Next(enumValues.Length));
    }
}

[TestClass]
public class RandomTests {
    [TestMethod]
    public void TestMethod1() {
        Options option;
        for (int i = 0; i < 10; ++i) {
            option = RandomEnum.Of<Options>();
            Console.WriteLine(option);
        }
    }

}

Answer 3

Adapted as a Random class extension:

public static class RandomExtensions
{   
    public static T NextEnum<T>(this Random random)
    {
        var values = Enum.GetValues(typeof(T));
        return (T)values.GetValue(random.Next(values.Length));
    }
}

Example of usage:

var random = new Random();
var myEnumRandom = random.NextEnum<MyEnum>();