Oracle Cryptographic Toolkit Programmer's Guide Release 2.0.4 A54082-02 |
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# 5
Random Number Generator

This chapter discusses the Oracle Cryptographic Toolkit random number generator. The following topics are covered:

- "Overview"
- "Functions"
- "Example"

## 5.1 Overview

The random number generator is built on top of the Oracle Cryptographic Toolkit. This tool is intended for users who want to generate random data for their applications.

## 5.2 Functions

The random number generator is composed of the following:

#### PROCEDURE Initialize (seed IN BINARY_INTEGER)

This procedure is used before the random number generator package is called. The procedure takes a seed which initializes the random number generator. The seed can be any value between -9999999999 and 9999999999.

Note: You must call this procedure before using any of the other procedures or functions. Otherwise, an exception will be raised.

#### PROCEDURE Seed (seed IN BINARY_INTEGER)

This procedure resets the seed used by the random number generator.

#### FUNCTION Random RETURN BINARY_INTEGER

The function returns a random number between -9999999999 and 9999999999.

#### PROCEDURE Terminate

This procedure must be called when the package is no longer needed.

## 5.3 Example

The following code fragment is an example of how to use the random number generator package.

    DECLARE
        i BINARY_INTEGER;
    BEGIN
        dbms_random.initialize(19254);
        i := dbms_random.random;
        INSERT INTO some_table VALUES(i);
        dbms_random.terminate;
    END;

Note: It is not currently possible to use the return value of RANDOM directly in a SQL statement. The following is not allowed, for example:
    INSERT_INTO some_table VALUES(DBMS_RANDOM.RANDOM);

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