Random numbers without duplicates - haskell

Question

Simulating a lottery of 6 numbers chosen from 40, I want to create a list of numbers in Haskell using the system random generator but eliminate duplicates, which often arise.
If I have the following:
import System.Random
main :: IO ()
main = do
rs <- forM [1..6] $ \_x -> randomRIO (1, 40) :: (IO Int)
print rs
this is halfway. But how do I filter out duplicates? It seems to me I need a while loop of some sort to construct a list filtering elements that are already in the list until the list is the required size. If I can generate an infinite list of random numbers and filter it inside the IO monad I am sure that would work, but I do not know how to approach this. It seems while loops are generally deprecated in Haskell, so I am uncertain of the true Haskeller's way here. Is this a legitimate use case for a while loop, and if so, how does one do that?

Answer 1

The function you are looking for is nub from Data.List, to filter dublicates.
import Data.List
import System.Random
main = do
g <- newStdGen
print . take 6 . nub $ (randomRs (1,40) g :: [Int])

Answer 2

If you don't mind using a library, then install the random-shuffle package and use it like this:
import System.Random.Shuffle
import Control.Monad.Random
main1 = do
perm <- evalRandIO $ shuffleM [1..10]
print perm
If you want to see how to implement a naive Fischer-Yates shuffle using lists in Haskell, have a look at this code:
shuffle2 xs g = go [] g (length xs) xs
where
go perm g n avail
| n == 0 = (perm,g)
| otherwise = let (i, g') = randomR (0,n-1) g
a = avail !! i
-- can also use splitAt to define avail':
avail' = take i avail ++ drop (i+1) avail
in go (a:perm) g' (n-1) avail'
main = do
perm <- evalRandIO $ liftRand $ shuffle2 [1..10]
print perm
The parameters to the go helper function are:
perm - the constructed permutation so far
g - the current generator value
n - the length of the available items
avail - the available items - i.e. items not yet selected to be part of the permutation
go simply adds a random element from avail to the permutation being constructed and recursively calls itself with the new avail list and new generator.
To only draw k random elements from xs, just start go at k instead of length xs:
shuffle2 xs k g = go [] g k xs
...
You could also use a temporary array (in the ST or IO monad) to implement a Fischer-Yates type algorithm. The shuffleM function in random-shuffle uses a yet completely different approach which you might find interesting.
Update: Here is an example of using an ST-array in a F-Y style algorithm:
import Control.Monad.Random
import Data.Array.ST
import Control.Monad
import Control.Monad.ST (runST, ST)
shuffle3 :: RandomGen g => Int -> g -> ([Int], g)
shuffle3 n g0 = runST $ do
arr <- newListArray (1,n) [1..n] :: ST s (STUArray s Int Int)
let step g i = do let (j,g') = randomR (1,n) g
-- swap i and j
a <- readArray arr i
b <- readArray arr j
writeArray arr j a
writeArray arr i b
return g'
g' <- foldM step g0 [1..n]
perm <- getElems arr
return (perm, g')
main = do
perm <- evalRandIO $ liftRand $ shuffle3 20
print perm

Answer 3

I've used the Fisher Yates Shuffle in C++ with a decent random number generator to great success. This approach is very efficient if you are willing to allocate an array for holding numbers 1 to 40.

Answer 4

Going the strict IO way requires to break down nub, bringing the condition into the tail recursion.
import System.Random
randsf :: (Eq a, Num a, Random a) => [a] -> IO [a]
randsf rs
| length rs > 6 = return rs
| otherwise = do
r <- randomRIO (1,40)
if elem r rs
then randsf rs
else randsf (r:rs)
main = do
rs <- randsf [] :: IO [Int]
print rs
If you know what you do unsafeInterleaveIO from System.IO.Unsafe can be handy, allowing you to generate lazy lists from IO. Functions like getContents work this way.
import Control.Monad
import System.Random
import System.IO.Unsafe
import Data.List
rands :: (Eq a, Num a, Random a) => IO [a]
rands = do
r <- randomRIO (1,40)
unsafeInterleaveIO $ liftM (r:) rands
main = do
rs <- rands :: IO [Int]
print . take 6 $ nub rs

Answer 5

You commented:
The goal is to learn how to build a list monadically using filtering. It's a raw newbie question
Maybe you should change the question title then! Anyways, this is quite a common task. I usually define a combinator with a general monadic type that does what I want, give it a descriptive name (which I didn't quite succeed in here :-) and then use it, like below
import Control.Monad
import System.Random
-- | 'myUntil': accumulate a list with unique action results until the list
-- satisfies a test
myUntil :: (Monad m, Eq a) => ([a] -> Bool) -> m a -> m [a]
myUntil test action = myUntil' test [] action where
myUntil' test resultSoFar action = do
if test resultSoFar then
return resultSoFar
else do
x <- action
let newResults = if x `elem` resultSoFar then resultSoFar
else resultSoFar ++ [x] -- x:resultSoFar
myUntil' test newResults action
main :: IO ()
main = do
let enough xs = length xs == 6
drawNumber = randomRIO (0, 40::Int)
numbers <- myUntil enough drawNumber
print numbers
NB: this is not the optimal way to get your 6 distinct numbers, but meant as an example how to, in general, build a list monadically using a filter that works on the entire list
It is in essence the same as Vektorweg's longest answer, but uses a combinator with a much more general type (which is the way I like to do it, which may be more useful for you, given your comment at the top of this answer)