freebsd-dev/lib/libc/stdlib/rand.3

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.\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1991, 1993
.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
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.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
.\" the American National Standards Committee X3, on Information
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.\" @(#)rand.3 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
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.\" $FreeBSD$
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.\"
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.Dd September 4, 2012
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.Dt RAND 3
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm rand ,
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.Nm srand ,
.Nm sranddev ,
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.Nm rand_r
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.Nd bad random number generator
.Sh LIBRARY
.Lb libc
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.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In stdlib.h
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.Ft void
.Fn srand "unsigned seed"
.Ft void
.Fn sranddev void
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.Ft int
.Fn rand void
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.Ft int
.Fn rand_r "unsigned *ctx"
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.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Bf -symbolic
The functions described in this manual page are not cryptographically
secure.
Cryptographic applications should use
.Xr arc4random 3
instead.
.Ef
.Pp
These interfaces are obsoleted by
.Xr random 3 .
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.Pp
The
.Fn rand
function computes a sequence of pseudo-random integers in the range
of 0 to
.Dv RAND_MAX
(as defined by the header file
.In stdlib.h ) .
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.Pp
The
.Fn srand
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function sets its argument
.Fa seed
as the seed for a new sequence of
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pseudo-random numbers to be returned by
.Fn rand .
These sequences are repeatable by calling
.Fn srand
with the same seed value.
.Pp
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If no
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.Fa seed
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value is provided, the functions are automatically
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seeded with a value of 1.
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.Pp
The
.Fn sranddev
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function initializes a seed using the
.Xr random 4
random number device which returns good random numbers.
.Pp
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The
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.Fn rand_r
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function
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provides the same functionality as
.Fn rand .
A pointer to the context value
.Fa ctx
must be supplied by the caller.
.Pp
For better generator quality, use
.Xr random 3
or
.Xr lrand48 3 .
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.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr arc4random 3 ,
.Xr lrand48 3 ,
.Xr random 3 ,
.Xr random 4
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.Sh STANDARDS
The
.Fn rand
and
.Fn srand
functions
conform to
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.St -isoC .
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.Pp
The
.Fn rand_r
function is as proposed in the POSIX.4a Draft #6 document.