xref: /openbsd/lib/libc/stdlib/rand.3 (revision 404b540a)
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32.\"	$OpenBSD: rand.3,v 1.10 2007/05/31 19:19:31 jmc Exp $
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34.Dd $Mdocdate: May 31 2007 $
35.Dt RAND 3
36.Os
37.Sh NAME
38.Nm rand ,
39.Nm srand
40.Nd bad random number generator
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Fd #include <stdlib.h>
43.Ft void
44.Fn srand "unsigned int seed"
45.Ft int
46.Fn rand void
47.Ft int
48.Fn rand_r "unsigned int *seed"
49.Sh DESCRIPTION
50.Bf -symbolic
51These interfaces are obsoleted by
52.Xr random 3 .
53.Ef
54.Pp
55The
56.Fn rand
57function computes a sequence of pseudo-random integers in the range
58of 0 to
59.Dv RAND_MAX
60(as defined by the header file
61.Aq Pa stdlib.h ) .
62.Pp
63The
64.Fn srand
65function sets its argument as the seed for a new sequence of
66pseudo-random numbers to be returned by
67.Fn rand .
68These sequences are repeatable by calling
69.Fn srand
70with the same seed value.
71.Pp
72If no seed value is provided, the functions are automatically
73seeded with a value of 1.
74.Pp
75The
76.Fn rand_r
77is a thread-safe version of
78.Fn rand .
79Storage for the seed must be provided through the
80.Fa seed
81argument, and needs to have been initialized by the caller.
82.Sh SEE ALSO
83.Xr arc4random 3 ,
84.Xr rand48 3 ,
85.Xr random 3
86.Sh STANDARDS
87The
88.Fn rand
89and
90.Fn srand
91functions conform to
92.St -ansiC .
93.Pp
94The
95.Fn rand_r
96function conforms to ISO/IEC 9945-1 ANSI/IEEE
97.Pq Dq Tn POSIX
98Std 1003.1c Draft 10.
99