Generate unique random integers

The following codes can generate 8 unique random integers.

-(NSMutableArray *)getEightRandom {
  NSMutableArray *uniqueNumbers = [[[NSMutableArray alloc] init] autorelease];
  int r;
  while ([uniqueNumbers count] < 8) {
    r = arc4random();
    if (![uniqueNumbers containsObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:r]]) {
      [uniqueNumbers addObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:r]];
    }
  }
  return uniqueNumbers;
}

If you want to restrict to numbers less than some threshold M, then you can do this by:

-(NSMutableArray *)getEightRandomLessThan:(int)M {
  NSMutableArray *uniqueNumbers = [[[NSMutableArray alloc] init] autorelease];
  int r;
  while ([uniqueNumbers count] < 8) {
    r = arc4random() % M; // ADD 1 TO GET NUMBERS BETWEEN 1 AND M RATHER THAN 0 and M-1
    if (![uniqueNumbers containsObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:r]]) {
      [uniqueNumbers addObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:r]];
    }
  }
  return uniqueNumbers;
}

If M=8, or even if M is close to 8 (e.g. 9 or 10), then this takes a while and you can be more clever.

-(NSMutableArray *)getEightRandomLessThan:(int)M {
  NSMutableArray *listOfNumbers = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
  for (int i=0 ; i<M ; ++i) {
    [listOfNumbers addObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:i]]; // ADD 1 TO GET NUMBERS BETWEEN 1 AND M RATHER THAN 0 and M-1
  }
  NSMutableArray *uniqueNumbers = [[[NSMutableArray alloc] init] autorelease];
  int r;
  while ([uniqueNumbers count] < 8) {
    r = arc4random() % [listOfNumbers count];
    if (![uniqueNumbers containsObject:[listOfNumbers objectAtIndex:r]]) {
      [uniqueNumbers addObject:[listOfNumbers objectAtIndex:r]];
    }
  }
  [listOfNumbers release];
  return uniqueNumbers;
}

Source:http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6153550/ios-how-do-i-generate-8-unique-random-integers