#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <time.h>
/*
A standard deck of 52 playing cards consists of four suits:
spades (♠), hearts (♥), diamonds (♦), and clubs (♣).
Each suit contains 13 ranks:
Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King.
Cards of spades and clubs are black, while hearts and diamonds are red.
Color is informational only — it does not affect shuffling or random selection.
*/
/*
This program picks 5 random cards from a standard 52‑card deck.
It uses:
- Arrays of strings to represent ranks and suits
- A 52‑element array to store the deck
- Fisher–Yates shuffle (the efficient, unbiased shuffle algorithm)
- rand() seeded with time(NULL) for randomness
Algorithm:
1. Build the deck (52 strings).
2. Shuffle using Fisher–Yates.
3. Print the first 5 cards.
*/
void buildDeck(char deck[][20]) {
const char *ranks[] = {
"2","3","4","5","6","7","8","9","10","J","Q","K","A"
};
const char *suits[] = {
"Clubs", "Diamonds", "Hearts", "Spades"
};
int index = 0;
// Build the deck: 13 ranks × 4 suits = 52 cards
for (int s = 0; s < 4; s++) {
for (int r = 0; r < 13; r++) {
snprintf(deck[index], 20, "%s of %s", ranks[r], suits[s]);
index++;
}
}
}
void shuffleDeck(char deck[][20], int size) {
// Fisher–Yates shuffle: efficient and unbiased
for (int i = size - 1; i > 0; i--) {
int j = rand() % (i + 1);
char temp[20];
snprintf(temp, 20, "%s", deck[i]);
snprintf(deck[i], 20, "%s", deck[j]);
snprintf(deck[j], 20, "%s", temp);
}
}
int main() {
char deck[52][20];
// Step 1: Build the deck
buildDeck(deck);
// Step 2: Seed RNG with current time
srand((unsigned)time(NULL));
// Step 3: Shuffle the deck
shuffleDeck(deck, 52);
// Step 4: Draw the first 5 cards
printf("Your 5 random cards:\n");
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
printf("%s\n", deck[i]);
}
return 0;
}
/*
run:
Your 5 random cards:
6 of Diamonds
5 of Clubs
Q of Clubs
6 of Hearts
J of Clubs
*/
