Getting a random number in bash
This script generates a bounded random number: #!/bin/bash # Generate a random number. Copyright (c) Michael Still 2002 # Released under the terms of the GNU GPL # # (Is it possible to copyright a single line of code?) # To quote from the rand manpage as to why we bound the random number this way: # # In Numerical Recipes in C: The Art of Scientific Computing # (William H. Press, Brian P. Flannery, Saul A. Teukolsky, # William T. Vetterling; New York: Cambridge University # Press, 1992 (2nd ed., p. 277)), the following comments are # made: # "If you want to generate a random integer between 1 # and 10, you should always do it by using high-order # bits, as in # # j=1+(int) (10.0*rand()/(RAND_MAX+1.0)); # # and never by anything resembling # # j=1+(rand() % 10); # # (which uses lower-order bits)." # To seed the random number generator, set RANDOM to a value... We can see # that the bash code (2.05a in this case) already does some seeding for us... # # brand () # { # rseed = rseed * 1103515245 + 12345; # return ((unsigned int)((rseed >> 16) & 32767)); /*…