random element from array in c

Question

How can I select a random element from a character array in c ?

For instance:

char *array[19];

array[0] = "Hi";


array[1] = "Hello";

etc

I am looking for something like array[rand], where rand is the random integer number between o and the array's length(in this case 20) like 1, 2, 3 , 19 etc.

Answer 1

To start things off, since you have an array of strings, not of characters, you have to declare it as char* array[19];

Then, you can declare the following (always useful) macro

#define ARR_SIZE(arr) ( sizeof((arr)) / sizeof((arr[0])) )

Last, you can choose arr[rand() % ARR_SIZE(arr)] (while keeping in mind that performing % on rand() is not the proper way to do get a random number within a range.