# Output: a prn in range(0;$n) where $n is `.`
def prn:
  if . == 1 then 0
  else . as $n
  | ([1, (($n-1)|tostring|length)]|max) as $w
  | [limit($w; inputs)] | join("") | tonumber
  | if . < $n then . else ($n | prn) end
  end;

# An illustration - 10 selections at random with replacement:
range(0;10) | ["a", "b", "c"] | .[length|prn]