🔀 Shuffle Lines

Randomize and shuffle the order of text lines instantly. Perfect for creating random lists, randomizing surveys, shuffling data entries, and mixing up line sequences. Uses Fisher-Yates algorithm for uniform distribution.

Enter Your Text (one item per line):

📌 Shuffled Output:

Enter text and click "Shuffle Lines" to randomize the order...

Total Lines

Blank Lines

Content Lines

💡 How it works:

Paste your text with one item per line
Click "Shuffle Lines" to randomize the order
Uses Fisher-Yates shuffling algorithm for fair randomization
Blank lines are preserved in their randomized positions
Each shuffle produces a different random order
Statistics show total, blank, and content lines

📝 Examples:

Input (Original Order):

apple banana cherry date elderberry

Output (Shuffled - Example 1):

cherry elderberry apple date banana

Output (Shuffled - Example 2, Different Random Order):

banana date cherry apple elderberry

Input (With Blank Lines):

Item 1 Item 2 Item 3

Output (Shuffled - Blank Lines Preserved):

Item 3 Item 1 Item 2

Statistics (Example):

Total Lines: 5
Blank Lines: 0
Content Lines: 5

📚 Use Cases:

Randomize survey response options
Shuffle playlist or song lists
Mix up test questions or exam items
Randomize game participant lists
Create random drawing order for contests
Shuffle TODO lists or task priorities
Generate random data order for analysis

ℹ️ Note: This tool uses the Fisher-Yates shuffling algorithm for uniform randomization. Each time you shuffle, you get a different random order. Blank lines are preserved in their randomized positions.

Why the shuffle runs backwards

Fisher-Yates starts at the last line and works up, swapping each line with one drawn from the part of the list that has not been placed yet:

for i = n-1 down to 1:
    j = floor(Math.random() * (i + 1))     // 0 .. i inclusive
    swap lines[i] and lines[j]

Because the draw range shrinks by one each step, every one of the n! possible orderings is equally likely. The tempting one-liner - sort(() => Math.random() - 0.5) - is not equivalent: it feeds an inconsistent comparator to a sort routine and leaves items near where they started.

How random the randomness is

The source is Math.random, a fast pseudo-random generator, not crypto.getRandomValues. There is no seed you can set, so a shuffle cannot be reproduced or audited afterwards.
Long lists cannot reach every ordering. The generator holds about 2¹²⁸ internal states, roughly 3 x 10³⁸, while 35 lines already have 1 x 10⁴⁰ arrangements. The result is still unpredictable in practice; it is simply not exhaustive.
Blank lines are shuffled like any other line and can land at the top. A trailing newline in your input counts as one of them, which is why Total Lines is sometimes one more than you expect.
Each click reshuffles the original text, so pressing the button five times gives five independent orderings rather than a shuffle of a shuffle.

Fine for seating plans, quiz questions and playlists. For a prize draw with real money at stake, use a method you can show your entrants - random.org publishes a signed record of each draw.

Frequently asked questions

Could the same order come up twice?

Easily, on a short list. Five lines have only 120 possible orders, so repeats are common. Twenty lines have 2.4 quintillion orderings, so a repeat there will never happen.

How do I shuffle rows in Excel instead?

Put =RAND() in a helper column, fill it down, then sort by that column and delete it. Pasting a column here is quicker and does not leave volatile formulas recalculating in the sheet.

Does shuffling change my text in any way?

No. Lines are reordered, never edited - spacing, capitalisation and duplicates all survive intact, and the line count is identical before and after.