Bash Random Number

**imported_Oppo** · 09-30-2008, 07:03 AM

I thought I would post how to generate a random number using Bash because it took me a while to find the information.

Code:

NUMBER=`echo $RANDOM%900 | bc`

Now you can use $NUMBER anywhere in your script and you should have a random number.

**asafe** · 07-07-2009, 08:29 PM

If I'm not wrong RANDOM is a shell variable. I think you use it directily:

Code:

NUMBER=$RANDOM

Or

Code:

number=$((RANDOM % somenumber))

**Exit526** · 04-05-2010, 11:59 PM

I think the better way is to use /dev/urandom for this. Read random bits from the file. You can obtain large range. $RANDOM has only 0-32767. E.g.

Code:

cat /dev/urandom|od -N4 -An -i

Thread: Bash Random Number