in reply to randomly choosing elements from an array
What about shuffling the array using one of the shuffle functions in either List::Util or Algorithm::Numerical::Shuffle and then shifting off the desired number (or a random number) of elements?
-- #!/usr/bin/perl for(ref bless{},just'another'perl'hacker){s-:+-$"-g&&print$_.$/}
In Section
Seekers of Perl Wisdom