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rand

(PHP 3, PHP 4, PHP 5)

rand -- Generate a random integer

Description

int rand ( [int min, int max] )

If called without the optional min, max arguments rand() returns a pseudo-random integer between 0 and RAND_MAX. If you want a random number between 5 and 15 (inclusive), for example, use rand (5, 15).

Note: On some platforms (such as Windows) RAND_MAX is only 32768. If you require a range larger than 32768, specifying min and max will allow you to create a range larger than RAND_MAX, or consider using mt_rand() instead.

Note: As of PHP 4.2.0, there is no need to seed the random number generator with srand() or mt_srand() as this is now done automatically.

Parameters

min

The lowest value to return (default: 0)

max

The highest value to return (default: RAND_MAX)

Return Values

A pseudo random value between min (or 0) and max (or RAND_MAX, inclusive).

ChangeLog

VersionDescription
Since 3.0.7 In versions before 3.0.7 the meaning of max was range. To get the same results in these versions the short example should be rand (5, 11) to get a random number between 5 and 15.

Examples

Example 1. rand() example

<?php
echo rand() . "\n";
echo rand() . "\n";

echo rand(5, 15);
?>

The above example will output something similar to:

7771
22264
11

See Also

srand()
getrandmax()
mt_rand()

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