1.\" $NetBSD: random.3,v 1.15 2002/02/07 09:24:07 ross Exp $ 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1991, 1993 4.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 7.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 8.\" are met: 9.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 11.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 13.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 14.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software 15.\" must display the following acknowledgement: 16.\" This product includes software developed by the University of 17.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. 18.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 19.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 20.\" without specific prior written permission. 21.\" 22.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 23.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 24.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 25.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 26.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 27.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 28.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 29.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 30.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 31.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 32.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 33.\" 34.\" from: @(#)random.3 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93 35.\" 36.Dd June 4, 1993 37.Dt RANDOM 3 38.Os 39.Sh NAME 40.Nm random , 41.Nm srandom , 42.Nm initstate , 43.Nm setstate 44.Nd better random number generator; routines for changing generators 45.Sh LIBRARY 46.Lb libc 47.Sh SYNOPSIS 48.Fd #include \*[Lt]stdlib.h\*[Gt] 49.Ft long 50.Fn random void 51.Ft void 52.Fn srandom "unsigned long seed" 53.Ft char * 54.Fn initstate "unsigned long seed" "char *state" "size_t n" 55.Ft char * 56.Fn setstate "char *state" 57.Sh DESCRIPTION 58The 59.Fn random 60function 61uses a non-linear additive feedback random number generator employing a 62default table of size 31 long integers to return successive pseudo-random 63numbers in the range from 0 to 64.if t 2\u\s731\s10\d\(mi1. 65.if n (2**31)\(mi1. 66The period of this random number generator is very large, approximately 67.if t 16\(mu(2\u\s731\s10\d\(mi1). 68.if n 16*((2**31)\(mi1). 69.Pp 70The 71.Fn random 72and 73.Fn srandom 74have (almost) the same calling sequence and initialization properties as 75.Xr rand 3 76and 77.Xr srand 3 . 78The difference is that 79.Xr rand 3 80produces a much less random sequence \(em in fact, the low dozen bits 81generated by 82.Xr rand 3 83go through a cyclic pattern. 84All the bits generated by 85.Fn random 86are usable. 87For example, 88.Sq Li random()\*[Am]01 89will produce a random binary value. 90.Pp 91Like 92.Xr rand 3 , 93.Fn random 94will by default produce a sequence of numbers that can be duplicated 95by calling 96.Fn srandom 97with 98.Ql 1 99as the seed. 100.Pp 101The 102.Fn initstate 103routine allows a state array, passed in as an argument, to be initialized 104for future use. 105The size of the state array (in bytes) is used by 106.Fn initstate 107to decide how sophisticated a random number generator it should use \(em the 108more state, the better the random numbers will be. 109(Current "optimal" values for the amount of state information are 1108, 32, 64, 128, and 256 bytes; other amounts will be rounded down to 111the nearest known amount. 112Using less than 8 bytes will cause an error). 113The seed for the initialization (which specifies a starting point for 114the random number sequence, and provides for restarting at the same 115point) is also an argument. The state array passed to 116.Fn initstate 117must be aligned to a 32-bit boundary. This can be achieved by using 118a suitably-sized array of ints, and casting the array to char * when 119passing it to 120.Fn initstate . 121The 122.Fn initstate 123function 124returns a pointer to the previous state information array. 125.Pp 126Once a state has been initialized, the 127.Fn setstate 128routine provides for rapid switching between states. 129The 130.Fn setstate 131function 132returns a pointer to the previous state array; its 133argument state array is used for further random number generation 134until the next call to 135.Fn initstate 136or 137.Fn setstate . 138.Pp 139Once a state array has been initialized, it may be restarted at a 140different point either by calling 141.Fn initstate 142(with the desired seed, the state array, and its size) or by calling 143both 144.Fn setstate 145(with the state array) and 146.Fn srandom 147(with the desired seed). 148The advantage of calling both 149.Fn setstate 150and 151.Fn srandom 152is that the size of the state array does not have to be remembered after 153it is initialized. 154.Pp 155With 256 bytes of state information, the period of the random number 156generator is greater than 157.if t 2\u\s769\s10\d, 158.if n 2**69 159which should be sufficient for most purposes. 160.Sh DIAGNOSTICS 161If 162.Fn initstate 163is called with less than 8 bytes of state information, or if 164.Fn setstate 165detects that the state information has been garbled, error 166messages are printed on the standard error output. 167.Sh SEE ALSO 168.Xr rand 3 , 169.Xr srand 3 , 170.Xr rnd 4 , 171.Xr rnd 9 172.Sh HISTORY 173These 174functions appeared in 175.Bx 4.2 . 176.Sh AUTHORS 177.An Earl T. Cohen 178.Sh BUGS 179About 2/3 the speed of 180.Xr rand 3 . 181