public classRandomextendsObjectimplementsSerializable
If two instances ofRandom are created with the same seed, and the same sequence of method calls is made for each, they will generate and return identical sequences of numbers. In order to guarantee this property, particular algorithms are specified for the classRandom. Java implementations must use all the algorithms shown here for the classRandom, for the sake of absolute portability of Java code. However, subclasses of classRandom are permitted to use other algorithms, so long as they adhere to the general contracts for all the methods.
The algorithms implemented by classRandom use aprotected utility method that on each invocation can supply up to 32 pseudorandomly generated bits.
Many applications will find the methodMath.random() simpler to use.
Instances ofjava.util.Random are threadsafe. However, the concurrent use of the samejava.util.Random instance across threads may encounter contention and consequent poor performance. Consider instead usingThreadLocalRandom in multithreaded designs.
Instances ofjava.util.Random are not cryptographically secure. Consider instead usingSecureRandom to get a cryptographically secure pseudo-random number generator for use by security-sensitive applications.
| Constructor | Description |
|---|---|
Random() | Creates a new random number generator. |
Random(long seed) | Creates a new random number generator using a single long seed. |
| Modifier and Type | Method | Description |
|---|---|---|
DoubleStream | doubles() | Returns an effectively unlimited stream of pseudorandom double values, each between zero (inclusive) and one (exclusive). |
DoubleStream | doubles(double randomNumberOrigin, double randomNumberBound) | Returns an effectively unlimited stream of pseudorandom double values, each conforming to the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive). |
DoubleStream | doubles(long streamSize) | Returns a stream producing the given streamSize number of pseudorandomdouble values, each between zero (inclusive) and one (exclusive). |
DoubleStream | doubles(long streamSize, double randomNumberOrigin, double randomNumberBound) | Returns a stream producing the given streamSize number of pseudorandomdouble values, each conforming to the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive). |
IntStream | ints() | Returns an effectively unlimited stream of pseudorandom int values. |
IntStream | ints(int randomNumberOrigin, int randomNumberBound) | Returns an effectively unlimited stream of pseudorandom int values, each conforming to the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive). |
IntStream | ints(long streamSize) | Returns a stream producing the given streamSize number of pseudorandomint values. |
IntStream | ints(long streamSize, int randomNumberOrigin, int randomNumberBound) | Returns a stream producing the given streamSize number of pseudorandomint values, each conforming to the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive). |
LongStream | longs() | Returns an effectively unlimited stream of pseudorandom long values. |
LongStream | longs(long streamSize) | Returns a stream producing the given streamSize number of pseudorandomlong values. |
LongStream | longs(long randomNumberOrigin, long randomNumberBound) | Returns an effectively unlimited stream of pseudorandom long values, each conforming to the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive). |
LongStream | longs(long streamSize, long randomNumberOrigin, long randomNumberBound) | Returns a stream producing the given streamSize number of pseudorandomlong, each conforming to the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive). |
protected int | next(int bits) | Generates the next pseudorandom number. |
boolean | nextBoolean() | Returns the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed boolean value from this random number generator's sequence. |
void | nextBytes(byte[] bytes) | Generates random bytes and places them into a user-supplied byte array. |
double | nextDouble() | Returns the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed double value between0.0 and1.0 from this random number generator's sequence. |
float | nextFloat() | Returns the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed float value between0.0 and1.0 from this random number generator's sequence. |
double | nextGaussian() | Returns the next pseudorandom, Gaussian ("normally") distributed double value with mean0.0 and standard deviation1.0 from this random number generator's sequence. |
int | nextInt() | Returns the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed int value from this random number generator's sequence. |
int | nextInt(int bound) | Returns a pseudorandom, uniformly distributed int value between 0 (inclusive) and the specified value (exclusive), drawn from this random number generator's sequence. |
long | nextLong() | Returns the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed long value from this random number generator's sequence. |
void | setSeed(long seed) | Sets the seed of this random number generator using a single long seed. |
public Random()
public Random(long seed)
long seed. The seed is the initial value of the internal state of the pseudorandom number generator which is maintained by methodnext(int).The invocationnew Random(seed) is equivalent to:
Random rnd = new Random(); rnd.setSeed(seed);seed - the initial seedsetSeed(long)public void setSeed(long seed)
long seed. The general contract ofsetSeed is that it alters the state of this random number generator object so as to be in exactly the same state as if it had just been created with the argumentseed as a seed. The methodsetSeed is implemented by classRandom by atomically updating the seed to (seed ^ 0x5DEECE66DL) & ((1L << 48) - 1) and clearing thehaveNextNextGaussian flag used bynextGaussian().The implementation ofsetSeed by classRandom happens to use only 48 bits of the given seed. In general, however, an overriding method may use all 64 bits of thelong argument as a seed value.
seed - the initial seedprotected int next(int bits)
The general contract ofnext is that it returns anint value and if the argumentbits is between1 and32 (inclusive), then that many low-order bits of the returned value will be (approximately) independently chosen bit values, each of which is (approximately) equally likely to be0 or1. The methodnext is implemented by classRandom by atomically updating the seed to
(seed * 0x5DEECE66DL + 0xBL) & ((1L << 48) - 1) and returning (int)(seed >>> (48 - bits)). This is a linear congruential pseudorandom number generator, as defined by D. H. Lehmer and described by Donald E. Knuth inThe Art of Computer Programming, Volume 3:Seminumerical Algorithms, section 3.2.1.bits - random bitspublic void nextBytes(byte[] bytes)
The methodnextBytes is implemented by classRandom as if by:
public void nextBytes(byte[] bytes) { for (int i = 0; i < bytes.length; ) for (int rnd = nextInt(), n = Math.min(bytes.length - i, 4); n-- > 0; rnd >>= 8) bytes[i++] = (byte)rnd; }bytes - the byte array to fill with random bytesNullPointerException - if the byte array is nullpublic int nextInt()
int value from this random number generator's sequence. The general contract ofnextInt is that oneint value is pseudorandomly generated and returned. All 232 possibleint values are produced with (approximately) equal probability.The methodnextInt is implemented by classRandom as if by:
public int nextInt() { return next(32); }int value from this random number generator's sequencepublic int nextInt(int bound)
int value between 0 (inclusive) and the specified value (exclusive), drawn from this random number generator's sequence. The general contract ofnextInt is that oneint value in the specified range is pseudorandomly generated and returned. Allbound possibleint values are produced with (approximately) equal probability. The methodnextInt(int bound) is implemented by classRandom as if by: public int nextInt(int bound) { if (bound <= 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException("bound must be positive"); if ((bound & -bound) == bound) // i.e., bound is a power of 2 return (int)((bound * (long)next(31)) >> 31); int bits, val; do { bits = next(31); val = bits % bound; } while (bits - val + (bound-1) < 0); return val; }The hedge "approximately" is used in the foregoing description only because the next method is only approximately an unbiased source of independently chosen bits. If it were a perfect source of randomly chosen bits, then the algorithm shown would chooseint values from the stated range with perfect uniformity.
The algorithm is slightly tricky. It rejects values that would result in an uneven distribution (due to the fact that 2^31 is not divisible by n). The probability of a value being rejected depends on n. The worst case is n=2^30+1, for which the probability of a reject is 1/2, and the expected number of iterations before the loop terminates is 2.
The algorithm treats the case where n is a power of two specially: it returns the correct number of high-order bits from the underlying pseudo-random number generator. In the absence of special treatment, the correct number oflow-order bits would be returned. Linear congruential pseudo-random number generators such as the one implemented by this class are known to have short periods in the sequence of values of their low-order bits. Thus, this special case greatly increases the length of the sequence of values returned by successive calls to this method if n is a small power of two.
bound - the upper bound (exclusive). Must be positive.int value between zero (inclusive) andbound (exclusive) from this random number generator's sequenceIllegalArgumentException - if bound is not positivepublic long nextLong()
long value from this random number generator's sequence. The general contract ofnextLong is that onelong value is pseudorandomly generated and returned.The methodnextLong is implemented by classRandom as if by:
public long nextLong() { return ((long)next(32) << 32) + next(32); } Because classRandom uses a seed with only 48 bits, this algorithm will not return all possiblelong values.long value from this random number generator's sequencepublic boolean nextBoolean()
boolean value from this random number generator's sequence. The general contract ofnextBoolean is that oneboolean value is pseudorandomly generated and returned. The valuestrue andfalse are produced with (approximately) equal probability.The methodnextBoolean is implemented by classRandom as if by:
public boolean nextBoolean() { return next(1) != 0; }boolean value from this random number generator's sequencepublic float nextFloat()
float value between0.0 and1.0 from this random number generator's sequence.The general contract ofnextFloat is that onefloat value, chosen (approximately) uniformly from the range0.0f (inclusive) to1.0f (exclusive), is pseudorandomly generated and returned. All 224 possiblefloat values of the formm x 2-24, wherem is a positive integer less than 224, are produced with (approximately) equal probability.
The methodnextFloat is implemented by classRandom as if by:
public float nextFloat() { return next(24) / ((float)(1 << 24)); }The hedge "approximately" is used in the foregoing description only because the next method is only approximately an unbiased source of independently chosen bits. If it were a perfect source of randomly chosen bits, then the algorithm shown would choosefloat values from the stated range with perfect uniformity.
[In early versions of Java, the result was incorrectly calculated as:
return next(30) / ((float)(1 << 30)); This might seem to be equivalent, if not better, but in fact it introduced a slight nonuniformity because of the bias in the rounding of floating-point numbers: it was slightly more likely that the low-order bit of the significand would be 0 than that it would be 1.]float value between0.0 and1.0 from this random number generator's sequencepublic double nextDouble()
double value between0.0 and1.0 from this random number generator's sequence.The general contract ofnextDouble is that onedouble value, chosen (approximately) uniformly from the range0.0d (inclusive) to1.0d (exclusive), is pseudorandomly generated and returned.
The methodnextDouble is implemented by classRandom as if by:
public double nextDouble() { return (((long)next(26) << 27) + next(27)) / (double)(1L << 53); }The hedge "approximately" is used in the foregoing description only because thenext method is only approximately an unbiased source of independently chosen bits. If it were a perfect source of randomly chosen bits, then the algorithm shown would choosedouble values from the stated range with perfect uniformity.
[In early versions of Java, the result was incorrectly calculated as:
return (((long)next(27) << 27) + next(27)) / (double)(1L << 54); This might seem to be equivalent, if not better, but in fact it introduced a large nonuniformity because of the bias in the rounding of floating-point numbers: it was three times as likely that the low-order bit of the significand would be 0 than that it would be 1! This nonuniformity probably doesn't matter much in practice, but we strive for perfection.]double value between0.0 and1.0 from this random number generator's sequenceMath.random()public double nextGaussian()
double value with mean0.0 and standard deviation1.0 from this random number generator's sequence. The general contract ofnextGaussian is that onedouble value, chosen from (approximately) the usual normal distribution with mean0.0 and standard deviation1.0, is pseudorandomly generated and returned.
The methodnextGaussian is implemented by classRandom as if by a threadsafe version of the following:
private double nextNextGaussian; private boolean haveNextNextGaussian = false; public double nextGaussian() { if (haveNextNextGaussian) { haveNextNextGaussian = false; return nextNextGaussian; } else { double v1, v2, s; do { v1 = 2 * nextDouble() - 1; // between -1.0 and 1.0 v2 = 2 * nextDouble() - 1; // between -1.0 and 1.0 s = v1 * v1 + v2 * v2; } while (s >= 1 || s == 0); double multiplier = StrictMath.sqrt(-2 * StrictMath.log(s)/s); nextNextGaussian = v2 * multiplier; haveNextNextGaussian = true; return v1 * multiplier; } } This uses thepolar method of G. E. P. Box, M. E. Muller, and G. Marsaglia, as described by Donald E. Knuth inThe Art of Computer Programming, Volume 3:Seminumerical Algorithms, section 3.4.1, subsection C, algorithm P. Note that it generates two independent values at the cost of only one call toStrictMath.log and one call toStrictMath.sqrt.double value with mean0.0 and standard deviation1.0 from this random number generator's sequencepublic IntStream ints(long streamSize)
streamSize number of pseudorandomint values.A pseudorandomint value is generated as if it's the result of calling the methodnextInt().
streamSize - the number of values to generateint valuesIllegalArgumentException - ifstreamSize is less than zeropublic IntStream ints()
int values.A pseudorandomint value is generated as if it's the result of calling the methodnextInt().
ints(Long.MAX_VALUE).int valuespublic IntStream ints(long streamSize, int randomNumberOrigin, int randomNumberBound)
streamSize number of pseudorandomint values, each conforming to the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive).A pseudorandomint value is generated as if it's the result of calling the following method with the origin and bound:
int nextInt(int origin, int bound) { int n = bound - origin; if (n > 0) { return nextInt(n) + origin; } else { // range not representable as int int r; do { r = nextInt(); } while (r < origin || r >= bound); return r; } }streamSize - the number of values to generaterandomNumberOrigin - the origin (inclusive) of each random valuerandomNumberBound - the bound (exclusive) of each random valueint values, each with the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive)IllegalArgumentException - ifstreamSize is less than zero, orrandomNumberOrigin is greater than or equal torandomNumberBoundpublic IntStream ints(int randomNumberOrigin, int randomNumberBound)
int values, each conforming to the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive).A pseudorandomint value is generated as if it's the result of calling the following method with the origin and bound:
int nextInt(int origin, int bound) { int n = bound - origin; if (n > 0) { return nextInt(n) + origin; } else { // range not representable as int int r; do { r = nextInt(); } while (r < origin || r >= bound); return r; } }ints(Long.MAX_VALUE, randomNumberOrigin, randomNumberBound).randomNumberOrigin - the origin (inclusive) of each random valuerandomNumberBound - the bound (exclusive) of each random valueint values, each with the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive)IllegalArgumentException - ifrandomNumberOrigin is greater than or equal torandomNumberBoundpublic LongStream longs(long streamSize)
streamSize number of pseudorandomlong values.A pseudorandomlong value is generated as if it's the result of calling the methodnextLong().
streamSize - the number of values to generatelong valuesIllegalArgumentException - ifstreamSize is less than zeropublic LongStream longs()
long values.A pseudorandomlong value is generated as if it's the result of calling the methodnextLong().
longs(Long.MAX_VALUE).long valuespublic LongStream longs(long streamSize, long randomNumberOrigin, long randomNumberBound)
streamSize number of pseudorandomlong, each conforming to the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive).A pseudorandomlong value is generated as if it's the result of calling the following method with the origin and bound:
long nextLong(long origin, long bound) { long r = nextLong(); long n = bound - origin, m = n - 1; if ((n & m) == 0L) // power of two r = (r & m) + origin; else if (n > 0L) { // reject over-represented candidates for (long u = r >>> 1; // ensure nonnegative u + m - (r = u % n) < 0L; // rejection check u = nextLong() >>> 1) // retry ; r += origin; } else { // range not representable as long while (r < origin || r >= bound) r = nextLong(); } return r; }streamSize - the number of values to generaterandomNumberOrigin - the origin (inclusive) of each random valuerandomNumberBound - the bound (exclusive) of each random valuelong values, each with the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive)IllegalArgumentException - ifstreamSize is less than zero, orrandomNumberOrigin is greater than or equal torandomNumberBoundpublic LongStream longs(long randomNumberOrigin, long randomNumberBound)
long values, each conforming to the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive).A pseudorandomlong value is generated as if it's the result of calling the following method with the origin and bound:
long nextLong(long origin, long bound) { long r = nextLong(); long n = bound - origin, m = n - 1; if ((n & m) == 0L) // power of two r = (r & m) + origin; else if (n > 0L) { // reject over-represented candidates for (long u = r >>> 1; // ensure nonnegative u + m - (r = u % n) < 0L; // rejection check u = nextLong() >>> 1) // retry ; r += origin; } else { // range not representable as long while (r < origin || r >= bound) r = nextLong(); } return r; }longs(Long.MAX_VALUE, randomNumberOrigin, randomNumberBound).randomNumberOrigin - the origin (inclusive) of each random valuerandomNumberBound - the bound (exclusive) of each random valuelong values, each with the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive)IllegalArgumentException - ifrandomNumberOrigin is greater than or equal torandomNumberBoundpublic DoubleStream doubles(long streamSize)
streamSize number of pseudorandomdouble values, each between zero (inclusive) and one (exclusive).A pseudorandomdouble value is generated as if it's the result of calling the methodnextDouble().
streamSize - the number of values to generatedouble valuesIllegalArgumentException - ifstreamSize is less than zeropublic DoubleStream doubles()
double values, each between zero (inclusive) and one (exclusive).A pseudorandomdouble value is generated as if it's the result of calling the methodnextDouble().
doubles(Long.MAX_VALUE).double valuespublic DoubleStream doubles(long streamSize, double randomNumberOrigin, double randomNumberBound)
streamSize number of pseudorandomdouble values, each conforming to the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive).A pseudorandomdouble value is generated as if it's the result of calling the following method with the origin and bound:
double nextDouble(double origin, double bound) { double r = nextDouble(); r = r * (bound - origin) + origin; if (r >= bound) // correct for rounding r = Math.nextDown(bound); return r; }streamSize - the number of values to generaterandomNumberOrigin - the origin (inclusive) of each random valuerandomNumberBound - the bound (exclusive) of each random valuedouble values, each with the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive)IllegalArgumentException - ifstreamSize is less than zeroIllegalArgumentException - ifrandomNumberOrigin is greater than or equal torandomNumberBoundpublic DoubleStream doubles(double randomNumberOrigin, double randomNumberBound)
double values, each conforming to the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive).A pseudorandomdouble value is generated as if it's the result of calling the following method with the origin and bound:
double nextDouble(double origin, double bound) { double r = nextDouble(); r = r * (bound - origin) + origin; if (r >= bound) // correct for rounding r = Math.nextDown(bound); return r; }doubles(Long.MAX_VALUE, randomNumberOrigin, randomNumberBound).randomNumberOrigin - the origin (inclusive) of each random valuerandomNumberBound - the bound (exclusive) of each random valuedouble values, each with the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive)IllegalArgumentException - ifrandomNumberOrigin is greater than or equal torandomNumberBound