从版本1.7.0开始，NumPy有一个支持概率分布的选择函数。

from numpy.random import choice
draw = choice(list_of_candidates, number_of_items_to_pick,
              p=probability_distribution)

注意，probability_distribution是一个与list_of_candidate顺序相同的序列。您还可以使用关键字replace=False来更改行为，这样绘制的项就不会被替换。

如果您的加权选项列表是相对静态的，并且您希望频繁采样，则可以执行一个O(N)预处理步骤，然后使用相关答案中的函数在O(1)中进行选择。

# run only when `choices` changes.
preprocessed_data = prep(weight for _,weight in choices)

# O(1) selection
value = choices[sample(preprocessed_data)][0]

一种方法是随机化所有权重的总和，然后使用这些值作为每个变量的极限点。以下是作为生成器的粗略实现。

def rand_weighted(weights):
    """
    Generator which uses the weights to generate a
    weighted random values
    """
    sum_weights = sum(weights.values())
    cum_weights = {}
    current_weight = 0
    for key, value in sorted(weights.iteritems()):
        current_weight += value
        cum_weights[key] = current_weight
    while True:
        sel = int(random.uniform(0, 1) * sum_weights)
        for key, value in sorted(cum_weights.iteritems()):
            if sel < value:
                break
        yield key

下面是使用numpy的另一个版本的weighted_choice。传入weights向量，它将返回一个由0组成的数组，其中包含一个1，表示所选择的bin。该代码默认只进行一次绘制，但您可以传入绘制的数量，并且将返回每个绘制的bin的计数。

如果权重向量的和不等于1，它将被规范化，使之等于1。

import numpy as np

def weighted_choice(weights, n=1):
    if np.sum(weights)!=1:
        weights = weights/np.sum(weights)

    draws = np.random.random_sample(size=n)

    weights = np.cumsum(weights)
    weights = np.insert(weights,0,0.0)

    counts = np.histogram(draws, bins=weights)
    return(counts[0])

如果你没有提前定义你想要选择多少项(所以，你没有做k=10这样的事情)，你只有概率，你可以做下面的事情。注意，你的概率加起来不需要等于1，它们可以相互独立:

soup_items = ['pepper', 'onion', 'tomato', 'celery'] 
items_probability = [0.2, 0.3, 0.9, 0.1]

selected_items = [item for item,p in zip(soup_items,items_probability) if random.random()<p]
print(selected_items)
>>>['pepper','tomato']

下面是Python 3.6标准库中包含的版本:

import itertools as _itertools
import bisect as _bisect

class Random36(random.Random):
    "Show the code included in the Python 3.6 version of the Random class"

    def choices(self, population, weights=None, *, cum_weights=None, k=1):
        """Return a k sized list of population elements chosen with replacement.

        If the relative weights or cumulative weights are not specified,
        the selections are made with equal probability.

        """
        random = self.random
        if cum_weights is None:
            if weights is None:
                _int = int
                total = len(population)
                return [population[_int(random() * total)] for i in range(k)]
            cum_weights = list(_itertools.accumulate(weights))
        elif weights is not None:
            raise TypeError('Cannot specify both weights and cumulative weights')
        if len(cum_weights) != len(population):
            raise ValueError('The number of weights does not match the population')
        bisect = _bisect.bisect
        total = cum_weights[-1]
        return [population[bisect(cum_weights, random() * total)] for i in range(k)]

来源:https://hg.python.org/cpython/file/tip/Lib/random.py l340