srand - seed the random number generator

- NAME
- SYNOPSIS
- DESCRIPTION

# NAME

srand - seed the random number generator

# SYNOPSIS

srand EXPR

srand

# DESCRIPTION

Sets the random number seed for the `rand` operator.

The point of the function is to ``seed'' the `rand` function so that `rand` can produce a different sequence each time you run your program.

If `srand()` is not called explicitly, it is called implicitly at the first use of the `rand` operator. However, this was not the case in versions of Perl before 5.004, so if your script will run under older Perl versions, it should call `srand`.

Most programs won't even call `srand()` at all, except those that need a cryptographically-strong starting point rather than the generally acceptable default, which is based on time of day, process ID, and memory allocation, or the /dev/urandom device, if available.

You can call `srand($seed)` with the same $seed to reproduce the same sequence from rand(), but this is usually reserved for generating predictable results for testing or debugging. Otherwise, don't call `srand()` more than once in your program.

Do not call `srand()` (i.e. without an argument) more than once in a script. The internal state of the random number generator should contain more entropy than can be provided by any seed, so calling `srand()` again actually loses randomness.

Most implementations of `srand` take an integer and will silently truncate decimal numbers. This means `srand(42)` will usually produce the same results as `srand(42.1)`. To be safe, always pass `srand` an integer.

In versions of Perl prior to 5.004 the default seed was just the current `time`. This isn't a particularly good seed, so many old programs supply their own seed value (often `time ^ $$` or `time ^ ($$ + ($$ << 15))`), but that isn't necessary any more.

For cryptographic purposes, however, you need something much more random than the default seed. Checksumming the compressed output of one or more rapidly changing operating system status programs is the usual method. For example:

        srand (time ^ $$ ^ unpack "%L*", `ps axww | gzip`);

If you're particularly concerned with this, see the `Math::TrulyRandom` module in CPAN.

Frequently called programs (like CGI scripts) that simply use

        time ^ $$

for a seed can fall prey to the mathematical property that

        a^b == (a+1)^(b+1)

one-third of the time. So don't do that.

srand - seed the random number generator