xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/stdlib/rand.3 (revision 23f282aa31e9b6fceacd449020e936e98d6f2298)
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36.\"     @(#)rand.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
37.\" $FreeBSD$
38.\"
39.Dd May 25, 1999
40.Dt RAND 3
41.Os
42.Sh NAME
43.Nm rand ,
44.Nm srand ,
45.Nm rand_r
46.Nd bad random number generator
47.Sh LIBRARY
48.Lb libc
49.Sh SYNOPSIS
50.Fd #include <stdlib.h>
51.Ft void
52.Fn srand "unsigned seed"
53.Ft int
54.Fn rand void
55.Ft int
56.Fn rand_r "unsigned *ctx"
57.Sh DESCRIPTION
58.Bf -symbolic
59These interfaces are obsoleted by random(3).
60.Ef
61.Pp
62The
63.Fn rand
64function computes a sequence of pseudo-random integers in the range
65of 0 to
66.Dv RAND_MAX
67(as defined by the header file
68.Aq Pa stdlib.h ) .
69.Pp
70The
71.Fn srand
72function sets its argument
73.Fa seed
74as the seed for a new sequence of
75pseudo-random numbers to be returned by
76.Fn rand .
77These sequences are repeatable by calling
78.Fn srand
79with the same seed value.
80.Pp
81If no
82.Fa seed
83value is provided, the functions are automatically
84seeded with a value of 1.
85.Pp
86.Fn rand_r
87provides the same functionality as
88.Fn rand .
89A pointer to the context value
90.Fa ctx
91must be supplied by the caller.
92.Sh SEE ALSO
93.Xr random 3
94.Sh STANDARDS
95The
96.Fn rand
97and
98.Fn srand
99functions
100conform to
101.St -ansiC .
102.Pp
103The
104.Fn rand_r
105function is as proposed in the POSIX.4a Draft #6 document.
106