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shuf — Generate random permutations. More information: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/html_

Submitted by: @import:tldr-pages·Mar 2, 2026·

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Problem

How to use the shuf command: Generate random permutations. More information: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/html_node/shuf-invocation.html>.

Solution

shuf — Generate random permutations. More information: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/html_node/shuf-invocation.html>.

Randomize the order of lines in a file and output the result:

shuf {{path/to/file}}

Only output the first 5 entries of the result:

shuf {{[-n|--head-count]}} 5 {{path/to/file}}

Write the output to another file:

shuf {{path/to/input_file}} {{[-o|--output]}} {{path/to/output_file}}

Generate 3 random numbers in the range 1-10 (inclusive, numbers can repeat):

shuf {{[-n|--head-count]}} 3 {{[-i|--input-range]}} 1-10 {{[-r|--repeat]}}

Code Snippets

Randomize the order of lines in a file and output the result

shuf {{path/to/file}}

Only output the first 5 entries of the result

shuf {{[-n|--head-count]}} 5 {{path/to/file}}

Write the output to another file

shuf {{path/to/input_file}} {{[-o|--output]}} {{path/to/output_file}}

Generate 3 random numbers in the range 1-10 (inclusive, numbers can repeat)

shuf {{[-n|--head-count]}} 3 {{[-i|--input-range]}} 1-10 {{[-r|--repeat]}}

Context

tldr-pages: common/shuf

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