xref: /openbsd-src/lib/libc/stdlib/rand.3 (revision e5157e49389faebcb42b7237d55fbf096d9c2523)
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32.\"	$OpenBSD: rand.3,v 1.16 2014/07/17 23:12:28 deraadt Exp $
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34.Dd $Mdocdate: July 17 2014 $
35.Dt RAND 3
36.Os
37.Sh NAME
38.Nm rand ,
39.Nm rand_r ,
40.Nm srand
41.Nd bad random number generator
42.Sh SYNOPSIS
43.In stdlib.h
44.Ft void
45.Fn srand "unsigned int seed"
46.Ft int
47.Fn rand void
48.Ft int
49.Fn rand_r "unsigned int *seed"
50.Sh DESCRIPTION
51.Bf -symbolic
52These interfaces are obsoleted by
53.Xr random 3 ,
54which is also unsafe.
55Consider using
56.Xr arc4random 3 .
57.Ef
58.Pp
59The
60.Fn rand
61function computes a sequence of pseudo-random integers in the range
62of 0 to
63.Dv RAND_MAX
64(as defined by the header file
65.In stdlib.h ) .
66.Pp
67The
68.Fn srand
69function sets its argument as the seed for a new sequence of
70pseudo-random numbers to be returned by
71.Fn rand .
72These sequences are repeatable by calling
73.Fn srand
74with the same seed value.
75.Pp
76If no seed value is provided, the functions are automatically
77seeded with a value of 1.
78.Pp
79The
80.Fn rand_r
81is a thread-safe version of
82.Fn rand .
83Storage for the seed must be provided through the
84.Fa seed
85argument, and needs to have been initialized by the caller.
86.Sh SEE ALSO
87.Xr arc4random 3 ,
88.Xr rand48 3 ,
89.Xr random 3
90.Sh STANDARDS
91The
92.Fn rand
93and
94.Fn srand
95functions conform to
96.St -ansiC .
97.Pp
98The
99.Fn rand_r
100function conforms to
101.St -p1003.1-2008 .
102.Sh HISTORY
103The functions
104.Fn rand
105and
106.Fn srand
107first appeared in
108.At v3 .
109