---
title: randomElement()
framework: swift
role: symbol
role_heading: Instance Method
path: swift/dictionary/randomelement()
---

# randomElement()

Returns a random element of the collection.

## Declaration

```swift
func randomElement() -> Self.Element?
```

## Return Value

Return Value A random element from the collection. If the collection is empty, the method returns nil.

## Discussion

Discussion Call randomElement() to select a random element from an array or another collection. This example picks a name at random from an array: let names = ["Zoey", "Chloe", "Amani", "Amaia"] let randomName = names.randomElement()! // randomName == "Amani" This method is equivalent to calling randomElement(using:), passing in the system’s default random generator. note: O(1) if the collection conforms to RandomAccessCollection; otherwise, O(n), where n is the length of the collection.

## See Also

### Accessing Keys and Values

- [subscript(_:)](swift/dictionary/subscript(_:)-8rfql.md)
- [subscript(_:default:)](swift/dictionary/subscript(_:default:).md)
- [index(forKey:)](swift/dictionary/index(forkey:).md)
- [subscript(_:)](swift/dictionary/subscript(_:)-4bhoo.md)
- [keys](swift/dictionary/keys-swift.property.md)
- [values](swift/dictionary/values-swift.property.md)
- [first](swift/dictionary/first.md)
- [randomElement(using:)](swift/dictionary/randomelement(using:).md)