How to permute a row vector without using perms(), permute() etc.

I would like to permute a row vector, but without using perms(), permute() and so forth. I was wondering whether the following code answers these requirements. I mean, am I somewhat "cheating" by using randi()? I'd also appreciate any comments on the algorithm in general (although I know the function works well).

function  Y = ex(X) 
Y = zeros(1,length(X));
for i = 1:length(X)
  d = randi(length(X));
  Y(i) = X(d);
  X(d) = [];
end

Answer 1

[Matt J]

It doesn't violate any requirements that you've mentioned, so I'm inclined to say it's legal. Here's another way, if you don't like randi for some reason

n=length(X);

 [~,~,e]=qr(sprand(n,n,1/n));

 Y=reshape(e*X(:),size(X)),

If the permuted order is supposed to be random, I don't think there's any avoiding the use some sort of random number generator.

[Yuval]

Is it "legal" that my code changes the original vector?

[Matt J]

Only you and presumably the instructor who assigned this to you can know what is "legal" for you.