GeezerVison is showing docs.oracle.com — Random (Java SE 25 & JDK 25)
Class Random
- All Implemented Interfaces:
Serializable, RandomGenerator
- Direct Known Subclasses:
SecureRandom, ThreadLocalRandom
An instance of this class is used to generate a stream of
pseudorandom numbers; its period is only 2 48.
The class uses a 48-bit seed, which is
modified using a linear congruential formula. (See Donald E. Knuth,
The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 2, Third
edition: Seminumerical Algorithms, Section 3.2.1.)
If two instances of Random 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
class Random. Java implementations must use all the algorithms
shown here for the class Random, for the sake of absolute
portability of Java code. However, subclasses of class Random
are permitted to use other algorithms, so long as they adhere to the
general contracts for all the methods.
The algorithms implemented by class Random use a
protected utility method that on each invocation can supply
up to 32 pseudorandomly generated bits.
Many applications will find the method Math.random() simpler to use.
Instances of java.util.Random are threadsafe.
However, the concurrent use of the same java.util.Random
instance across threads may encounter contention and consequent
poor performance. Consider instead using
ThreadLocalRandom in multithreaded
designs.
Instances of java.util.Random are not cryptographically
secure. Consider instead using SecureRandom to
get a cryptographically secure pseudo-random number generator for use
by security-sensitive applications.
- Since:
- 1.0
- See Also:
-
-
-
Constructor Summary
Constructors
Constructor
Description
Creates a new random number generator.
Creates a new random number generator using a single long seed.
-
Method Summary
Modifier and Type
Method
Description
Returns an effectively unlimited stream of pseudorandom
double values, each between zero (inclusive) and one
(exclusive).
doubles(double randomNumberOrigin,
double randomNumberBound)
Returns an effectively unlimited stream of pseudorandom
double values, each conforming to the given origin (inclusive) and bound
(exclusive).
Returns a stream producing the given streamSize number of
pseudorandom double values, each between zero
(inclusive) and one (exclusive).
doubles(long streamSize,
double randomNumberOrigin,
double randomNumberBound)
Returns a stream producing the given streamSize number of
pseudorandom double values, each conforming to the given origin
(inclusive) and bound (exclusive).
Returns an instance of Random that delegates method calls to the RandomGenerator
argument.
Returns an effectively unlimited stream of pseudorandom int
values.
ints(int randomNumberOrigin,
int randomNumberBound)
Returns an effectively unlimited stream of pseudorandom
int values, each conforming to the given origin (inclusive) and bound
(exclusive).
Returns a stream producing the given streamSize number of
pseudorandom int values.
ints(long streamSize,
int randomNumberOrigin,
int randomNumberBound)
Returns a stream producing the given streamSize number
of pseudorandom int values, each conforming to the given
origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive).
Returns an effectively unlimited stream of pseudorandom long
values.
Returns a stream producing the given streamSize number of
pseudorandom long values.
longs(long randomNumberOrigin,
long randomNumberBound)
Returns an effectively unlimited stream of pseudorandom
long values, each conforming to the given origin (inclusive) and bound
(exclusive).
longs(long streamSize,
long randomNumberOrigin,
long randomNumberBound)
Returns a stream producing the given streamSize number of
pseudorandom long, each conforming to the given origin
(inclusive) and bound (exclusive).
protected int
Generates the next pseudorandom number.
boolean
Returns the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed
boolean value from this random number generator's
sequence.
void
Generates random bytes and places them into a user-supplied
byte array.
double
Returns the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed
double value between 0.0 and
1.0 from this random number generator's sequence.
float
Returns the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed float
value between 0.0 and 1.0 from this random
number generator's sequence.
double
Returns the next pseudorandom, Gaussian ("normally") distributed
double value with mean 0.0 and standard
deviation 1.0 from this random number generator's sequence.
int
Returns the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed int
value from this random number generator's sequence.
int
Returns a pseudorandom, uniformly distributed int value
between 0 (inclusive) and the specified value (exclusive), drawn from
this random number generator's sequence.
long
Returns the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed long
value from this random number generator's sequence.
void
Sets or updates the seed of this random number generator using the
provided long seed value (optional operation).
Methods declared in class Object
clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait
equiDoubles, isDeprecated, nextDouble, nextDouble, nextExponential, nextFloat, nextFloat, nextGaussian, nextInt, nextLong, nextLong
-
Constructor Details
-
Random
public Random()
Creates a new random number generator. This constructor sets
the seed of the random number generator to a value very likely
to be distinct from any other invocation of this constructor.
-
Random
public Random(long seed)
Creates a new random number generator using a single long seed.
The seed is the initial value of the internal state of the pseudorandom
number generator which is maintained by method next(int).
- Implementation Requirements:
- The invocation
new Random(seed) is equivalent to:
Random rnd = new Random();
rnd.setSeed(seed);
- Parameters:
seed - the initial seed
- See Also:
-
-
Method Details
-
from
Returns an instance of Random that delegates method calls to the RandomGenerator
argument. If the generator is an instance of Random, it is returned. Otherwise, this method
returns an instance of Random that delegates all methods except setSeed to the generator.
The returned instance's setSeed method always throws UnsupportedOperationException.
The returned instance is not serializable.
- Parameters:
generator - the RandomGenerator calls are delegated to
- Returns:
- the delegating
Random instance
- Throws:
NullPointerException - if generator is null
- Since:
- 19
-
setSeed
public void setSeed(long seed)
Sets or updates the seed of this random number generator using the
provided long seed value (optional operation).
- Implementation Requirements:
- The implementation in this class alters the state of this random number
generator so that it is in the same state as if it had just been created with
new Random(seed). It atomically updates the seed to
(seed ^ 0x5DEECE66DL) & ((1L << 48) - 1)
and clears the haveNextNextGaussian flag used by nextGaussian().
Note that this uses only 48 bits of the given seed value.
- Parameters:
seed - the seed value
- Throws:
UnsupportedOperationException - if the setSeed
operation is not supported by this random number generator
-
next
protected int next(int bits)
Generates the next pseudorandom number. This method returns an
int value such that, if the argument bits is between
1 and 32 (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 be 0 or 1.
- API Note:
- The other random-producing methods in this class are implemented
in terms of this method, so subclasses can override just this
method to provide a different source of pseudorandom numbers for
the entire class.
- Implementation Requirements:
- The implementation in this class atomically updates the seed to
(seed * 0x5DEECE66DL + 0xBL) & ((1L << 48) - 1)
and returns
(int)(seed >>> (48 - bits)).
This is a linear congruential pseudorandom number generator, as
defined by D. H. Lehmer and described by Donald E. Knuth in
The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 2, Third edition:
Seminumerical Algorithms, section 3.2.1.
- Parameters:
bits - random bits
- Returns:
- the next pseudorandom value from this random number
generator's sequence
- Since:
- 1.1
-
nextBytes
public void nextBytes(byte[] bytes)
Generates random bytes and places them into a user-supplied
byte array. The number of random bytes produced is equal to
the length of the byte array.
- Specified by:
nextBytes in interface RandomGenerator
- Implementation Requirements:
- The method
nextBytes is
implemented by class Random 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;
}
- Parameters:
bytes - the byte array to fill with random bytes
- Throws:
NullPointerException - if the byte array is null
- Since:
- 1.1
-
nextInt
public int nextInt()
Returns the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed int
value from this random number generator's sequence. The general
contract of nextInt is that one int value is
pseudorandomly generated and returned. All 232 possible
int values are produced with (approximately) equal probability.
- Specified by:
nextInt in interface RandomGenerator
- Implementation Requirements:
- The method
nextInt is
implemented by class Random as if by:
public int nextInt() {
return next(32);
}
- Returns:
- the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed
int
value from this random number generator's sequence
-
nextInt
public 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. The general contract of
nextInt is that one int value in the specified range
is pseudorandomly generated and returned. All bound possible
int values are produced with (approximately) equal
probability.
- Specified by:
nextInt in interface RandomGenerator
- Implementation Requirements:
- The method
nextInt(int bound) is implemented by
class Random 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 choose int
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 of low-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.
- Parameters:
bound - the upper bound (exclusive). Must be positive.
- Returns:
- the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed
int
value between zero (inclusive) and bound (exclusive)
from this random number generator's sequence
- Throws:
IllegalArgumentException - if bound is not positive
- Since:
- 1.2
-
nextLong
public long nextLong()
Returns the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed long
value from this random number generator's sequence. The general
contract of nextLong is that one long value is
pseudorandomly generated and returned.
- Specified by:
nextLong in interface RandomGenerator
- Implementation Requirements:
- The method
nextLong is implemented by class Random
as if by:
public long nextLong() {
return ((long)next(32) << 32) + next(32);
}
Because class Random uses a seed with only 48 bits,
this algorithm will not return all possible long values.
- Returns:
- the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed
long
value from this random number generator's sequence
-
nextBoolean
public boolean nextBoolean()
Returns the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed
boolean value from this random number generator's
sequence. The general contract of nextBoolean is that one
boolean value is pseudorandomly generated and returned. The
values true and false are produced with
(approximately) equal probability.
- Specified by:
nextBoolean in interface RandomGenerator
- Implementation Requirements:
- The method
nextBoolean is implemented by class
Random as if by:
public boolean nextBoolean() {
return next(1) != 0;
}
- Returns:
- the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed
boolean value from this random number generator's
sequence
- Since:
- 1.2
-
nextFloat
public float nextFloat()
Returns the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed float
value between 0.0 and 1.0 from this random
number generator's sequence.
The general contract of nextFloat is that one
float value, chosen (approximately) uniformly from the
range 0.0f (inclusive) to 1.0f (exclusive), is
pseudorandomly generated and returned. All 224 possible
float values of the form m x 2-24,
where m is a positive integer less than 224, are
produced with (approximately) equal probability.
- Specified by:
nextFloat in interface RandomGenerator
- Implementation Requirements:
- The method
nextFloat is implemented by class
Random 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 choose float
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.]
- Returns:
- the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed
float
value between 0.0f and 1.0f from this
random number generator's sequence
-
nextDouble
public double nextDouble()
Returns the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed
double value between 0.0 and
1.0 from this random number generator's sequence.
The general contract of nextDouble is that one
double value, chosen (approximately) uniformly from the
range 0.0d (inclusive) to 1.0d (exclusive), is
pseudorandomly generated and returned.
- Specified by:
nextDouble in interface RandomGenerator
- Implementation Requirements:
- The method
nextDouble is implemented by class
Random 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 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 choose double 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.]
- Returns:
- the next pseudorandom, uniformly distributed
double
value between 0.0 and 1.0 from this
random number generator's sequence
- See Also:
-
-
nextGaussian
public double nextGaussian()
Returns the next pseudorandom, Gaussian ("normally") distributed
double value with mean 0.0 and standard
deviation 1.0 from this random number generator's sequence.
The general contract of nextGaussian is that one
double value, chosen from (approximately) the usual
normal distribution with mean 0.0 and standard deviation
1.0, is pseudorandomly generated and returned.
- Specified by:
nextGaussian in interface RandomGenerator
- Implementation Requirements:
- The method
nextGaussian is implemented by class
Random 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 the polar method of G. E. P. Box, M. E. Muller, and
G. Marsaglia, as described by Donald E. Knuth in The Art of
Computer Programming, Volume 2, third edition: Seminumerical Algorithms,
section 3.4.1, subsection C, algorithm P. Note that it generates two
independent values at the cost of only one call to StrictMath.log
and one call to StrictMath.sqrt.
- Returns:
- the next pseudorandom, Gaussian ("normally") distributed
double value with mean 0.0 and
standard deviation 1.0 from this random number
generator's sequence
-
ints
Returns a stream producing the given streamSize number of
pseudorandom int values.
A pseudorandom int value is generated as if it's the result of
calling the method nextInt().
- Specified by:
ints in interface RandomGenerator
- Parameters:
streamSize - the number of values to generate
- Returns:
- a stream of pseudorandom
int values
- Throws:
IllegalArgumentException - if streamSize is
less than zero
- Since:
- 1.8
-
ints
Returns an effectively unlimited stream of pseudorandom int
values.
A pseudorandom int value is generated as if it's the result of
calling the method nextInt().
- Specified by:
ints in interface RandomGenerator
- Implementation Note:
- This method is implemented to be equivalent to
ints(Long.MAX_VALUE).
- Returns:
- a stream of pseudorandom
int values
- Since:
- 1.8
-
ints
public IntStream ints(long streamSize,
int randomNumberOrigin,
int randomNumberBound)
Returns a stream producing the given streamSize number
of pseudorandom int values, each conforming to the given
origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive).
A pseudorandom int 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;
}
}
- Specified by:
ints in interface RandomGenerator
- Parameters:
streamSize - the number of values to generate
randomNumberOrigin - the origin (inclusive) of each random value
randomNumberBound - the bound (exclusive) of each random value
- Returns:
- a stream of pseudorandom
int values,
each with the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive)
- Throws:
IllegalArgumentException - if streamSize is
less than zero, or randomNumberOrigin
is greater than or equal to randomNumberBound
- Since:
- 1.8
-
ints
public 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).
A pseudorandom int 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;
}
}
- Specified by:
ints in interface RandomGenerator
- Implementation Note:
- This method is implemented to be equivalent to
ints(Long.MAX_VALUE, randomNumberOrigin, randomNumberBound).
- Parameters:
randomNumberOrigin - the origin (inclusive) of each random value
randomNumberBound - the bound (exclusive) of each random value
- Returns:
- a stream of pseudorandom
int values,
each with the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive)
- Throws:
IllegalArgumentException - if randomNumberOrigin
is greater than or equal to randomNumberBound
- Since:
- 1.8
-
longs
Returns a stream producing the given streamSize number of
pseudorandom long values.
A pseudorandom long value is generated as if it's the result
of calling the method nextLong().
- Specified by:
longs in interface RandomGenerator
- Parameters:
streamSize - the number of values to generate
- Returns:
- a stream of pseudorandom
long values
- Throws:
IllegalArgumentException - if streamSize is
less than zero
- Since:
- 1.8
-
longs
Returns an effectively unlimited stream of pseudorandom long
values.
A pseudorandom long value is generated as if it's the result
of calling the method nextLong().
- Specified by:
longs in interface RandomGenerator
- Implementation Note:
- This method is implemented to be equivalent to
longs(Long.MAX_VALUE).
- Returns:
- a stream of pseudorandom
long values
- Since:
- 1.8
-
longs
public LongStream longs(long streamSize,
long randomNumberOrigin,
long randomNumberBound)
Returns a stream producing the given streamSize number of
pseudorandom long, each conforming to the given origin
(inclusive) and bound (exclusive).
A pseudorandom long 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;
}
- Specified by:
longs in interface RandomGenerator
- Parameters:
streamSize - the number of values to generate
randomNumberOrigin - the origin (inclusive) of each random value
randomNumberBound - the bound (exclusive) of each random value
- Returns:
- a stream of pseudorandom
long values,
each with the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive)
- Throws:
IllegalArgumentException - if streamSize is
less than zero, or randomNumberOrigin
is greater than or equal to randomNumberBound
- Since:
- 1.8
-
longs
public 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).
A pseudorandom long 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;
}
- Specified by:
longs in interface RandomGenerator
- Implementation Note:
- This method is implemented to be equivalent to
longs(Long.MAX_VALUE, randomNumberOrigin, randomNumberBound).
- Parameters:
randomNumberOrigin - the origin (inclusive) of each random value
randomNumberBound - the bound (exclusive) of each random value
- Returns:
- a stream of pseudorandom
long values,
each with the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive)
- Throws:
IllegalArgumentException - if randomNumberOrigin
is greater than or equal to randomNumberBound
- Since:
- 1.8
-
doubles
Returns a stream producing the given streamSize number of
pseudorandom double values, each between zero
(inclusive) and one (exclusive).
A pseudorandom double value is generated as if it's the result
of calling the method nextDouble().
- Specified by:
doubles in interface RandomGenerator
- Parameters:
streamSize - the number of values to generate
- Returns:
- a stream of
double values
- Throws:
IllegalArgumentException - if streamSize is
less than zero
- Since:
- 1.8
-
doubles
Returns an effectively unlimited stream of pseudorandom
double values, each between zero (inclusive) and one
(exclusive).
A pseudorandom double value is generated as if it's the result
of calling the method nextDouble().
- Specified by:
doubles in interface RandomGenerator
- Implementation Note:
- This method is implemented to be equivalent to
doubles(Long.MAX_VALUE).
- Returns:
- a stream of pseudorandom
double values
- Since:
- 1.8
-
doubles
public DoubleStream doubles(long streamSize,
double randomNumberOrigin,
double randomNumberBound)
Returns a stream producing the given streamSize number of
pseudorandom double values, each conforming to the given origin
(inclusive) and bound (exclusive).
- Specified by:
doubles in interface RandomGenerator
- Parameters:
streamSize - the number of values to generate
randomNumberOrigin - the origin (inclusive) of each random value
randomNumberBound - the bound (exclusive) of each random value
- Returns:
- a stream of pseudorandom
double values,
each with the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive)
- Throws:
IllegalArgumentException - if streamSize is less than zero,
or randomNumberOrigin is not finite,
or randomNumberBound is not finite, or randomNumberOrigin
is greater than or equal to randomNumberBound
- Since:
- 1.8
-
doubles
public 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).
- Specified by:
doubles in interface RandomGenerator
- Implementation Note:
- This method is implemented to be equivalent to
doubles(Long.MAX_VALUE, randomNumberOrigin, randomNumberBound).
- Parameters:
randomNumberOrigin - the origin (inclusive) of each random value
randomNumberBound - the bound (exclusive) of each random value
- Returns:
- a stream of pseudorandom
double values,
each with the given origin (inclusive) and bound (exclusive)
- Throws:
IllegalArgumentException - if randomNumberOrigin is not finite,
or randomNumberBound is not finite, or randomNumberOrigin
is greater than or equal to randomNumberBound
- Since:
- 1.8
|