How do I create a Randomly Picking Batch File?

[chance1138]

Does anyone know how I would write a batch file to pick at random one name from a list?

We want to be able to randomly choose a place to eat every Friday at work!

I have found some batch files written that are supposed to do this, but I cannot get them to work.

Thanks!

 

[Nodsu]

Why do it with a batch file? That's just masochistic.
Use Excel instead.. Any scientific calculator will do too. Even dice would be easier.

 

[chance1138]

You can use Excel to choose a random option from another file? I guess I'm not sure how that would work.

I suppose I could get dice to work...

 

[Nodsu]

Why would you choose from another fle? Copy the place list to a preadsheet and work on that.

Maybe we need some more info on how your system works and would work in the future..

 

[chance1138]

I had a friend who had previously designed an Excel file to do the same thing make me one. Thanks for the suggestions.

The file has a list of restaurants, and a rating given by 3 people. This rating is made into a weighted average, and that average is applied to how often each restaurant is chosen. Basically, the more-liked restaurants are picked more often, for obvious reasons. So it isn't exactly random, but it still takes out the pain of decision-making! IMO it is a pretty in-depth program to have designed for something so simple, but this guy is also a friggin' genius.