RANDBETWEEN Function

Contents:

Expand all Collapse all

Generates a random integer between a low and a high number. Two inputs may be Integer or Decimal types, functions returning these types, or column references.

Range is inclusive of the two parameter values.
The first parameter must be the lower value in the range.

Basic Usage

derive type:single value: RANDBETWEEN(1,10) as:'r10'

Output: For each row, generate a random Integer value between 1 and 10 in the new r10 function.

Syntax and Arguments

derive type:single value: RANDBETWEEN(value1,value2) as:'random'

Argument	Required?	Data Type	Description
value1	Y	Integer or Decimal	Integer or Decimal literal, function returning one of these data types, or a column reference for the lower boundary of the range. Range is inclusive of this value.
value2	Y	Integer or Decimal	Integer or Decimal literal, function returning one of these data types, or a column reference for the upper boundary of the range. Range is inclusive of this value.

For more information on syntax standards, see Language Documentation Syntax Notes.

value1, value2

Literals, functions, or column references to Integer or Decimal values that are used as the lower and upper bounds, respectively, for the range.

Missing input values generate missing results.
Multiple columns and wildcards are not supported.

Usage Notes:

Required?	Data Type	Example Value
Yes	Integer or Decimal literal, function, or column reference	`100`

Examples

Tip: For additional examples, see Common Tasks.

Example - RANDBETWEEN, PI, and TRUNC functions

This example illustrates how you can apply the following functions to generate new and random data in your dataset:

RANDBETWEEN - Generate a random Integer value between two specified Integers. See RANDBETWEEN Function.
PI - Generate the value of pi to 15 decimal points. See PI Function.
ROUND - Round a decimal value to the nearest Integer or to a specified number of digits. See ROUND Function.
TRUNC - Round a value down to the nearest Integer value. See TRUNC Function.

Source:

In the following example, a company produces 10 circular parts, the size of which is measured in each product's radius in inches.

prodId	radius_in
p001	1
p002	2
p003	3
p004	4
p005	5
p006	6
p007	7
p008	8
p009	9
p010	10

Based on the above data, the company wants to generate some additional sizing information for these circular parts, including the generation of two points along each part's circumference where quality stress tests can be applied.

Transform:

To begin, you can use the following steps to generate the area and circumference for each product, rounded to three decimal points:

derive type:single value: ROUND(PI() * (POW(radius_in, 2)), 3) as: 'area_sqin'

derive type:single value: ROUND(PI() * (2 * radius_in), 3) as: 'circumference_in'

For quality purposes, the company needs two tests points along the circumference, which are generated by calculating two separate random locations along the circumference. Since the RANDBETWEEN function only calculates using Integer values, you must first truncate the values from circumference_in:

derive type:single value: TRUNC(circumference_in) as: 'trunc_circumference_in'

Then, you can calculate the random points using the following:

derive type:single value: RANDBETWEEN(0, trunc_circumference_in) as: 'testPt01_in'

derive type:single value: RANDBETWEEN(0, trunc_circumference_in) as: 'testPt02_in'

Results:

After the trunc_circumference_in column is dropped, the data should look similar to the following:

prodId	radius_in	area_sq_in	circumference_in	testPt01_in	testPt02_in
p001	1	3.142	6.283	5	5
p002	2	12.566	12.566	3	3
p003	3	28.274	18.850	13	13
p004	4	50.265	25.133	24	24
p005	5	78.540	31.416	0	0
p006	6	113.097	37.699	15	15
p007	7	153.938	43.982	11	11
p008	8	201.062	50.265	1	1
p009	9	254.469	56.549	29	29
p010	10	314.159	62.832	21	21

See Also for RANDBETWEEN Function:

Send Feedback

Page tree