RAND

Syntax

RAND(), RAND(N)

Description

Returns a random DOUBLE precision floating point value v in the range 0 <= v < 1.0. If a constant integer argument N is specified, it is used as the seed value, which produces a repeatable sequence of column values. In the following example, note that the sequences of values produced by RAND(3) is the same both places where it occurs.

Statements using the RAND() function are not safe for replication.

The expression to get a random integer from a given range is the following:

FLOOR(min_value + RAND() * (max_value - min_value))

Examples

CREATE TABLE t (i INT);

INSERT INTO t VALUES(1),(2),(3);

SELECT i, RAND() FROM t;
+------+-------------------+
| i    | RAND()            |
+------+-------------------+
|    1 | 0.255651095188829 |
|    2 | 0.833920199269355 |
|    3 |  0.40264774151393 |
+------+-------------------+

SELECT i, RAND(3) FROM t;
+------+-------------------+
| i    | RAND(3)           |
+------+-------------------+
|    1 |  0.90576975597606 |
|    2 | 0.373079058130345 |
|    3 | 0.148086053457191 |
+------+-------------------+

SELECT i, RAND() FROM t;
+------+-------------------+
| i    | RAND()            |
+------+-------------------+
|    1 | 0.511478140495232 |
|    2 | 0.349447508668012 |
|    3 | 0.212803152588013 |
+------+-------------------+

SELECT i, RAND(3) FROM t;
+------+-------------------+
| i    | RAND(3)           |
+------+-------------------+
|    1 |  0.90576975597606 |
|    2 | 0.373079058130345 |
|    3 | 0.148086053457191 |
+------+-------------------+