rand

 

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Type-generic math

 

Pseudo-random number generation

rand

srand

RAND_MAX

 

Defined in header <stdlib.h>
int rand();

Returns a pseudo-random integral value between ​0​ and RAND_MAX (0 and RAND_MAX included).

srand() seeds the pseudo-random number generator used by rand(). If rand() is used before any calls to srand(), rand() behaves as if it was seeded with srand(1). Each time rand() is seeded with srand(), it must produce the same sequence of values.

rand() is not guaranteed to be thread-safe.

Parameters

(none)

Return value

Pseudo-random integral value between ​0​ and RAND_MAX.

Notes

There are no guarantees as to the quality of the random sequence produced. In the past, some implementations of rand() have had serious shortcomings in the randomness, distribution and period of the sequence produced (in one well-known example, the low-order bit simply alternated between 1 and 0 between calls). rand() is not recommended for serious random-number generation needs, like cryptography.

Example

run this code

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <time.h>
 
int main(void)
{
    srand(time(0)); //use current time as seed for random generator
    int random_variable = rand();
    printf("Random value on [0,%d]: %d\n", RAND_MAX, random_variable);
}

Possible output:

Random value on [0 2147483647]: 1373858591

See also

srand	seeds pseudo-random number generator (function)