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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!newsroom.utas.edu.au!dslip3.cc.utas.edu.au!user From: andrew@hobart.tased.edu.au (Andrew) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Random in Perl Date: Mon, 04 Dec 1995 02:01:54 +1100 Organization: University of Tasmania, Australia. Lines: 28 Message-ID: <andrew-0412950201540001@dslip3.cc.utas.edu.au> NNTP-Posting-Host: dslip3.cc.utas.edu.au Hi, I have a CGI script written in perl. It needs one random number each execution but every time it calls rand it gets the same number. This isn't quite true it changes every 6 or 7 calls before going back to the original value. Yes - I had first called srand; Someone in comp.lang.perl suggested srand(time^$$); This is better as now the number changes every 3 or 4 calls. This is still not quite random enough for me however :( If I write a script to output _multiple_ random numbers (it graphs them to :) they appear to be random. Has anybody else experienced this? Any ideas on how to fix it? I'm using 2.0.5 on a 486SX. I'm planning to upgrade to 2.1 (and a HD that dosn't overheat and take the entire filsesytem with it) tommorrow and so mail to me might bounce for a while. I will however keep reading this group from my mac. Thanks for reading, Andrew -- -- Life is very short, and there's no time For fussing and fighting, my friend. WCWIO??TB