[R] select randomly from a list

[Jim Lemon]

On Thu, 22 May 2014 09:54:13 AM Ragia Ibrahim wrote:
> Hi,
> kindly I want to select randomly and item from list of items. the list
> generated in a looping process. I used sample(mylist,1) it works fine.
> BUTsome times the list have only one item. that should be chosen in 
this
> case since there is no other one. I found that sample return different 
item
> not included in the list thanks in advance
> RAE
> 
Hi RAE,
This doesn't happen in an example like this:

for(i in 1:5) {
 testlist<-list()
 for(j in 1:i) testlist[[j]]<-sample(LETTERS[1:26],1)
 cat("list is\n")
 print(testlist)
 cat("sample is\n")
 print(sample(testlist,1))
}

How are you generating your lists?

Jim