Generating random number in a range in C

Smita Kapse

Answered 5h 3m ago

Here we will see how to generate random number in given range using C. To solve this problem, we will use the srand() function. The current time will be used to seed the srad() function.

This function cannot generate random number in any range, it can generate number between 0 to some value. So for it, we have to follow one trick. We will generate random number in between 0 to (upper – lower + 1), then add the lower limit for offsetting.

Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <time.h>
void generate_random(int l, int r, int count) { //this will generate random number in range l and r
   int i;
   for (i = 0; i < count; i++) {
      int rand_num = (rand() % (r - l + 1)) + l;
      printf("%d ", rand_num);
   }
}
main() {
   int lower = 10, upper = 15, count = 15;
   srand(time(0)); //current time as seed of random number generator
   generate_random(lower, upper, count);
   printf("\n");
}

Output

15 11 13 10 13 10 15 11 14 12 12 13 12 13 14