rand() and srand() in C

rand()

The function rand() is used to generate the pseudo random number. It returns an integer value and its range is from 0 to rand_max i.e 32767.

Here is the syntax of rand() in C language,

int rand(void);

Here is an example of rand() in C language,

Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
int main() {
   printf("%d\n", rand());
   printf("%d", rand());
   return 0;
}

Output

1804289383
846930886

srand()

The function srand() is used to initialize the generated pseudo random number by rand() function. It does not return anything.

Here is the syntax of srand() in C language,

void srand(unsigned int number);

Here is an example of srand() in C language,

Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
#include<time.h>
int main() {
   srand(time(NULL));
   printf("%d\n", rand());
   srand(12);
   printf("%d", rand());
   return 0;
}

Output

1432462941
1687063760