The Korn shell provides a special variable, RANDOM, which is used to generate random numbers in the range from 0 to 32767. It generates a different random number each time it is referenced:
$ print $RANDOM 27291 $ print $RANDOM 5386 $ print $RANDOM 6884
You can also initialize a sequence of random numbers by setting RANDOM to a value. Here, RANDOM is set to 7. When subsequently accessed, the values 2726 and 18923 are returned:
$ RANDOM=7 $ print $RANDOM 2726 $ print $RANDOM 18923
When RANDOM is reset to 7 again, the same numbers are returned:
$ RANDOM=7 $ print $RANDOM 2726 $ print $RANDOM 18923
If RANDOM is unset, the special meaning is removed, even if reset.
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