Selecting a random member of a bash array
I came across this little tidbit today, I wish I hadn't closed my browser so I could give adequate credit but here is how to select a random port out of an array of ports in bash: DEST_PORTS=(22229 31457 42853) function pickDestPort () { RANDOM=$$$(date +%s) selectedport=${DEST_PORTS[$RANDOM % ${#DEST_PORTS[@]} ]} echo $selectedport }