arcgis desktop - How to randomly subset X% of selected points?

What methods are available in ArcGIS 10.2 to randomly subset a selection of points. For example, in the attached screenshot I am interested in keeping 20% of the selected points and deleting the rest.

Answer

Here's a python function that will select random features in a layer based on percent, ignoring current selection:

def SelectRandomByPercent (layer, percent):
    #layer variable is the layer name in TOC
    #percent is percent as whole number  (0-100)
    if percent > 100:
        print "percent is greater than 100"
        return
    if percent < 0:
        print "percent is less than zero"

        return
    import random
    fc = arcpy.Describe (layer).catalogPath
    featureCount = float (arcpy.GetCount_management (fc).getOutput (0))
    count = int (featureCount * float (percent) / float (100))
    if not count:
        arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management (layer, "CLEAR_SELECTION")
        return
    oids = [oid for oid, in arcpy.da.SearchCursor (fc, "OID@")]
    oidFldName = arcpy.Describe (layer).OIDFieldName

    path = arcpy.Describe (layer).path
    delimOidFld = arcpy.AddFieldDelimiters (path, oidFldName)
    randOids = random.sample (oids, count)
    oidsStr = ", ".join (map (str, randOids))
    sql = "{0} IN ({1})".format (delimOidFld, oidsStr)
    arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management (layer, "", sql)

Copy/paste this into the python shell in ArcMap.

Then in the shell type SelectRandomByPercent ("layer", num), where layer is the name of your layer, and num is a whole number of your percent.

A variation to find a subset selection as asked:

def SelectRandomByPercent (layer, percent):
    #layer variable is the layer name in TOC
    #percent is percent as whole number  (0-100)
    if percent > 100:
        print "percent is greater than 100"
        return
    if percent < 0:
        print "percent is less than zero"
        return

    import random
    featureCount = float (arcpy.GetCount_management (layer).getOutput (0))
    count = int (featureCount * float (percent) / float (100))
    if not count:
        arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management (layer, "CLEAR_SELECTION")
        return
    oids = [oid for oid, in arcpy.da.SearchCursor (layer, "OID@")]
    oidFldName = arcpy.Describe (layer).OIDFieldName
    path = arcpy.Describe (layer).path
    delimOidFld = arcpy.AddFieldDelimiters (path, oidFldName)

    randOids = random.sample (oids, count)
    oidsStr = ", ".join (map (str, randOids))
    sql = "{0} IN ({1})".format (delimOidFld, oidsStr)
    arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management (layer, "", sql)

Finally, one more variation to select a layer by a count, instead of a percent:

def SelectRandomByCount (layer, count):
    import random
    layerCount = int (arcpy.GetCount_management (layer).getOutput (0))
    if layerCount < count:

        print "input count is greater than layer count"
        return
    oids = [oid for oid, in arcpy.da.SearchCursor (layer, "OID@")]
    oidFldName = arcpy.Describe (layer).OIDFieldName
    path = arcpy.Describe (layer).path
    delimOidFld = arcpy.AddFieldDelimiters (path, oidFldName)
    randOids = random.sample (oids, count)
    oidsStr = ", ".join (map (str, randOids))
    sql = "{0} IN ({1})".format (delimOidFld, oidsStr)
    arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management (layer, "", sql)