Cloud

random

The random() function in Redpanda SQL generates a random number within a defined range. By default, the range is between 0 (inclusive) and 1 (exclusive), resulting in a value greater than or equal to 0 and less than 1.

Syntax

The syntax for generating a random integer or floating-point number using the random() function is:

RANDOM()

There are no parameters or arguments for the random() function.

Examples

Generate a random number

The random() function generates a random number greater than or equal to zero but less than one by default. Use this syntax to retrieve a random number:

SELECT RANDOM();

The result is a random number greater than 0 and less than 1. However, it will never return the maximum value of 1.

+-----------------------+
| f                     |
+-----------------------+
| 0.9122627193276355    |
+-----------------------+

Generate a random decimal number within a range

To generate a random decimal number between two values:

SELECT RANDOM()*(b-a)+a;

Where:

  • “a” represents the lower bound of the range.

  • “b” represents the upper bound of the range.

The return value will be a random floating-point number greater than or equal to a and less than b.

Example

To generate a random decimal number greater than or equal to 10 and less than 25:

SELECT RANDOM()*(25 - 10)+10;

This example shows how to retrieve a random number:

+-----------------------+
| f                     |
+-----------------------+
| 18.156098711616043    |
+-----------------------+

It is important to note that the function will never return the maximum value of b.