Random Student Generator

I recently needed a method for choosing a student at random from my classroom roster. To add an element of interest, I wanted the computer to speak the name out loud. I came up with a simple shell script I called "sayline" which will work on Mac OS X or Linux. Mac users, you would run this from the "Terminal" app. Linux users, you know what to do.

Mac OS X Version

#!/bin/bash
LINES=`wc -l $1 | awk '{ print ($1 + 1) }'`
RANDSEED=`date '+%S%M%I'`
LINE=`cat $1 | awk -v COUNT=$LINES -v SEED=$RANDSEED 'BEGIN { srand(SEED); i=int(rand()*COUNT) } FNR==i { print $0 }'`
say "$LINE"

Linux Version

For this to work under Linux, you will have to install flite with the standard "apt-get install flite". The script is identical to the above except for the last line.

#!/bin/bash
LINES=`wc -l $1 | awk '{ print ($1 + 1) }'`
RANDSEED=`date '+%S%M%I'`
LINE=`cat $1 | awk -v COUNT=$LINES -v SEED=$RANDSEED 'BEGIN { srand(SEED); i=int(rand()*COUNT) } FNR==i { print $0 }'`
flite "$LINE"

To use the script, I entered the names of my students in a file called "photo1_class.txt". I could use "photo2_class.txt" for my other class. Then I just type the command "sayline photo1_class.txt", and it picks a random name from the class list and speaks it aloud. Interestingly, the native voice on my Mac is female, while the voice on my Linux box is male.