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1.\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1991 The Regents of the University of California.
2.\" All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
6.\" are met:
7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
8.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
11.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
12.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
13.\" must display the following acknowledgement:
14.\" This product includes software developed by the University of
15.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
16.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
17.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
18.\" without specific prior written permission.
19.\"
20.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
21.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
22.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
23.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
24.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
25.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
26.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
27.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
28.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
29.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
30.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
31.\"
32.\" from: @(#)random.3 6.5 (Berkeley) 4/19/91
33.\" $Id: random.3,v 1.1.1.1 1995/10/18 08:42:19 deraadt Exp $
34.\"
35.Dd April 19, 1991
36.Dt RANDOM 3
37.Os BSD 4.2
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm random ,
40.Nm srandom ,
41.Nm initstate ,
42.Nm setstate
43.Nd better random number generator; routines for changing generators
44.Sh SYNOPSIS
45.Fd #include <stdlib.h>
46.Ft long
47.Fn random void
48.Ft void
49.Fn srandom "unsigned seed"
50.Ft char *
51.Fn initstate "unsigned seed" "char *state" "int n"
52.Ft char *
53.Fn setstate "char *state"
54.Sh DESCRIPTION
55The
56.Fn random
57function
58uses a non-linear additive feedback random number generator employing a
59default table of size 31 long integers to return successive pseudo-random
60numbers in the range from 0 to
61.if t 2\u\s731\s10\d\(mi1.
62.if n (2**31)\(mi1.
63The period of this random number generator is very large, approximately
64.if t 16\(mu(2\u\s731\s10\d\(mi1).
65.if n 16*((2**31)\(mi1).
66.Pp
67The
68.Fn random Ns / Fn srandom
69have (almost) the same calling sequence and initialization properties as
70.Xr rand 3 Ns / Xr srand 3 .
71The difference is that
72.Xr rand
73produces a much less random sequence \(em in fact, the low dozen bits
74generated by rand go through a cyclic pattern. All the bits generated by
75.Fn random
76are usable. For example,
77.Sq Li random()&01
78will produce a random binary
79value.
80.Pp
81Unlike
82.Xr srand ,
83.Fn srandom
84does not return the old seed; the reason for this is that the amount of
85state information used is much more than a single word. (Two other
86routines are provided to deal with restarting/changing random
87number generators). Like
88.Xr rand 3 ,
89however,
90.Fn random
91will by default produce a sequence of numbers that can be duplicated
92by calling
93.Fn srandom
94with
95.Ql 1
96as the seed.
97.Pp
98The
99.Fn initstate
100routine allows a state array, passed in as an argument, to be initialized
101for future use. The size of the state array (in bytes) is used by
102.Fn initstate
103to decide how sophisticated a random number generator it should use \(em the
104more state, the better the random numbers will be.
105(Current "optimal" values for the amount of state information are
1068, 32, 64, 128, and 256 bytes; other amounts will be rounded down to
107the nearest known amount. Using less than 8 bytes will cause an error.)
108The seed for the initialization (which specifies a starting point for
109the random number sequence, and provides for restarting at the same
110point) is also an argument.
111The
112.Fn initstate
113function
114returns a pointer to the previous state information array.
115.Pp
116Once a state has been initialized, the
117.Fn setstate
118routine provides for rapid switching between states.
119The
120.Fn setstate
121function
122returns a pointer to the previous state array; its
123argument state array is used for further random number generation
124until the next call to
125.Fn initstate
126or
127.Fn setstate .
128.Pp
129Once a state array has been initialized, it may be restarted at a
130different point either by calling
131.Fn initstate
132(with the desired seed, the state array, and its size) or by calling
133both
134.Fn setstate
135(with the state array) and
136.Fn srandom
137(with the desired seed).
138The advantage of calling both
139.Fn setstate
140and
141.Fn srandom
142is that the size of the state array does not have to be remembered after
143it is initialized.
144.Pp
145With 256 bytes of state information, the period of the random number
146generator is greater than
147.if t 2\u\s769\s10\d,
148.if n 2**69
149which should be sufficient for most purposes.
150.Sh AUTHOR
151Earl T. Cohen
152.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
153If
154.Fn initstate
155is called with less than 8 bytes of state information, or if
156.Fn setstate
157detects that the state information has been garbled, error
158messages are printed on the standard error output.
159.Sh SEE ALSO
160.Xr rand 3
161.Sh HISTORY
162These
163functions appeared in
164.Bx 4.2 .
165.Sh BUGS
166About 2/3 the speed of
167.Xr rand 3 .