chooseAtRandom
Randomly selects and outputs one expression from those provided as parameters.
This function makes it easy to add random linguistic variation (lexical or syntactic) to your narratives.
The function's behavior is affected by your project's STRATEGY setting. See Settings > Variation for details.
Parameters
STRING 1(string)
A string that may be selected at random.
STRING 2(string)
A string that may be selected at random.
STRING n(string)
A string that may be selected at random.
Note
You can input can any ATL element — e.g. function, variable, script call, etc. — that returns a string. You can also input lists, meaning you can enter one list of strings rather than each string separately — see List examples for guidance.
Examples
You can use chooseAtRandom to add lexical variation to your script. This is when different words or phrases are chosen randomly to express the same concept. For example:
Sales have [[chooseAtRandom('decreased', 'slumped', 'fallen')]]The function outputs one of three possible results, selected at random.
Possible Result 1 | Possible Result 2 | Possible Result 3 |
|---|---|---|
Sales have decreased | Sales have slumped | Sales have fallen |
The function also helps with syntactic variation. This involves providing alternative structures for a sentence (or whole paragraph), which are then selected at random. The best approach is to put the variants — e.g. three different passages communicating the same idea — in separate scripts, then use chooseAtRandom to select.
[[chooseAtRandom(Script1, Script2, Script3)]]
Possible Result 1 | Possible Result 2 | Possible Result 3 |
|---|---|---|
All text from Script1 | All text from Script2 | All text from Script3 |
Tip
The Describing each row tutorial includes a step-by-step guide to adding linguistic variation.
List examples
The function can also handle lists.
[[
theBeatles = makeList('John', 'Paul', 'George', 'Ringo')
joinStrings('My favorite is ', chooseAtRandom(theBeatles))
]]Here the function takes one parameter — that is, a list of strings. There are four possible outputs:
Possible Result 1 | Possible Result 2 | Possible Result 3 | Possible Result 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
My favorite is John | My favorite is Paul | My favorite is George | My favorite is Ringo |
Note
If you input multiple lists, the function returns one value from one list.
