How can I select random files from a directory in bash?

Question

I have a directory with 2000 files or so. I want a script or a list of piped commands that will allow me to select a random sample of N files.

Answer 1

Does this work? I don't use Bash, but a quick Google search gave me this link:

http://benjisimon.blogspot.com/2008/05/bash-shell-hack-picking-random-set-of.html

Answer 2

Here's a script that uses GNU sort's random option:

ls |sort -R |tail -$N |while read file; do
    # Something involving $file, or you can leave
    # off the while to just get the filenames
done

Answer 3

wow cool thanks a lot.