C library function - rand()

Description

The C library function int rand(void) returns a pseudo-random number in the range of 0 to RAND_MAX.

RAND_MAX is a constant whose default value may vary between implementations but it is granted to be at least 32767.

Declaration

Following is the declaration for rand() function.

int rand(void)

Parameters

• NA

Return Value

This function returns an integer value between 0 and RAND_MAX.

Example

The following example shows the usage of rand() function.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <time.h>

int main () {
   int i, n;
   time_t t;
   
   n = 5;
   
   /* Intializes random number generator */
   srand((unsigned) time(&t));

   /* Print 5 random numbers from 0 to 49 */
   for( i = 0 ; i < n ; i++ ) {
      printf("%d\n", rand() % 50);
   }
   
   return(0);
}

Let us compile and run the above program that will produce the following result −

38
45
29
29
47