I use %random to generate random number but i want to mod it so i get random number below 50 only in ksh script
how can i do it
x=random % 50
doesn't work

help is appreciated.


Is there any other way i get generate random number below 50 in ksh.any other function.
Plz provide an example

i am fairly new to unix
thanks

try
x= `echo $RANDOM %50 | bc`

$ m=50  
$ for i in {1..20};do print $(($RANDOM%$m+1));done      
4
31
11
4
50
16
12
6
44
39
40
26
23
42
41
8
44
20
47
36

When you use a modulus operation you are selecting information from the low order bits of a number and discarding information from the high order bits.

"these bits should be extracted from the most significant (left-hand) part
of the computer word, since the least significant bits produced by many random number generators are not sufficiently random."

and

"The least significant (right-hand) digits of X are not very random, so decisions based on the number X should always be influenced primarily by the most significant digits. It is generally best to think of X as a random fraction X/m between 0 and 1, that is, to visualize X with a decimal point at its left, rather than to regard X as a random integer between 0 and m - 1. To compute a random integer between 0 and k - 1, one should multiply by k and truncate the result."
both from The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 2 Seminumerical Algorithms by Donald Knuth

While neither is perfect, assuming that 0 <= RANDOM <= 32767,
((myrandom = RANDOM * 50 / 32768))
will behave better than
((myrandom = RANDOM % 50))

Thank you for elaborating further, Perderabo!