RANDOM

Overview

The RANDOM() function in Oxla generates a random number within a defined range. By default, the range is between 0 (inclusive) and 1 (exclusive), resulting in a value greater than or equal to 0 and less than 1.

Syntax

The syntax for generating a random integer or floating-point number using the RANDOM() function is as follows:

RANDOM()

There are no parameters or arguments for the RANDOM() function.

Examples

Case #1: Generating a random number

The RANDOM() function generates a random number greater than or equal to zero but less than one by default. The following statement can be used to retrieve a random number:

SELECT RANDOM();

As a result, you will get a random number greater than 0 and less than 1. However, it will never return the maximum value of 1.

+-----------------------+
| f                     |
+-----------------------+
| 0.9122627193276355    |
+-----------------------+

Case #2: Generating a random decimal number within a range

To generate a random decimal number between two values, you can use the following statement:

SELECT RANDOM()*(b-a)+a;

Where:

• “a” represents the lower bound of the range.

• ”b” represents the upper bound of the range.

The return value will be a random floating-point number greater than or equal to a and less than b.

Example

To generate a random decimal number greater than or equal to 10 and less than 25, the following statement can be used:

SELECT RANDOM()*(25 - 10)+10;

Below is an example of a random number that you may retrieve:

+-----------------------+
| f                     |
+-----------------------+
| 18.156098711616043    |
+-----------------------+

It is important to note that the function will never return the maximum value of b.