Rand. With rand() in Ruby, we can provide a range of numbers, and get a random number in return. We can then access a random letter or an array element.
Range info. With random numbers, it is important to carefully consider the range of the rand function. In Ruby the maximum is inclusive (included).
Range example. Here we use rand with a range. The range is inclusive—the lowest or highest bounding numbers may be returned by rand. By default, a range of 0 to 1 is used.
Here We generate a random number between 0 and 1. Then we generate six more, all between 0 and 5 (inclusively).
Detail The srand method is also available: this seeds the random number generator. Srand is not normally needed.
Note Calling srand with a constant number will make a program always use the same random numbers.
# Display random number between 0 and 1.
puts rand
# Display 6 random numbers between 0 and 5 inclusive.
for i in 0..5
# Call with range.
r = rand 0..5
puts r
end0.3299959902490742
2
4
2
0
1
5
Srand. This seeds the random number generator. Typically it is best not to invoke this method. It may make the random number stream more deterministic.
Note If you use a constant with srand, the random stream of numbers is not random anymore. This does not seem random.
Detail Each time I run this program, it returns 0.41 and 0.72. This is because the random number generator was seeded with a constant 1.
# Use constant seed.
srand 1
# Display random numbers.
puts rand
puts rand0.417022004702574
0.7203244934421581
Lowercase letters. There are 26 lowercase ASCII letters in the English alphabet. With rand we can generate random lowercase letters with an index from 0 to 25 (inclusive).
Note The "letters" string has 26 chars. Index 0 is "a" and index 25 is "z." Other values could be added.
def random_lowercase()
# Lookup table of lowercase letters.
letters = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"# Get random index within range.# ... Return letter at that position.
r = rand 0..25
return letters[r]
end
# Invoke our random_lowercase method.
10.times do
puts random_lowercase()
endl
a
q
i
v
s
i
b
d
q
Random strings. This method builds on our "random lowercase letter" method. We generate a string of a certain length. We place a random letter "length" times.
Detail We start with an empty array (we call this array the "word" array). We add letters to this array.
Detail We use the times iterator to add the required number of letters to our word array. We access letters using a range-based rand call.
def random_string(length)
# All lowercase letters.
letters = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"# Empty Array for letters we add.
word = Array[]
# Add all random letters.
length.times do
# Get random index within string.
r = rand 0..25
# Get letter for index.
letter = letters[r]
# Push to our array.
word.push(letter)
end
# Return random string joined together.
result = word.join("")
end
# Call our random_string method many times.
3.upto(10) do |i|
puts random_string(i)
puts random_string(i)
endoko
pig
heav
yafh
yvcuu
wgbep
uaosje
uywvyc
pttwiau
wqcxpyq
zzudlihd
kckqhqfd
tffatuubx
oulqkdfyw
civpxnsdjb
yrvvqbdwsv
A review. With Ruby we get a powerful and easy-to-use pseudo-random number generator. We call rand() with an optional (and usually necessary) range argument.
Dot Net Perls is a collection of tested code examples. Pages are continually updated to stay current, with code correctness a top priority.
Sam Allen is passionate about computer languages. In the past, his work has been recommended by Apple and Microsoft and he has studied computers at a selective university in the United States.
