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### 3.10 Random Numbers

A deterministic computer program cannot generate true random numbers. For most purposes, pseudo-random numbers suffice. A series of pseudo-random numbers is generated in a deterministic fashion. The numbers are not truly random, but they have certain properties that mimic a random series. For example, all possible values occur equally often in a pseudo-random series.

Pseudo-random numbers are generated from a seed value. Starting from any given seed, the `random` function always generates the same sequence of numbers. By default, Emacs initializes the random seed at startup, in such a way that the sequence of values of `random` (with overwhelming likelihood) differs in each Emacs run.

Sometimes you want the random number sequence to be repeatable. For example, when debugging a program whose behavior depends on the random number sequence, it is helpful to get the same behavior in each program run. To make the sequence repeat, execute `(random "")`. This sets the seed to a constant value for your particular Emacs executable (though it may differ for other Emacs builds). You can use other strings to choose various seed values.

Function: random &optional limit

  This function returns a pseudo-random integer. Repeated calls return a series of pseudo-random integers.

  If limit is a positive integer, the value is chosen to be nonnegative and less than limit. Otherwise, the value might be any integer representable in Lisp, i.e., an integer between `most-negative-fixnum` and `most-positive-fixnum` (see Integer Basics).

  If limit is `t`, it means to choose a new seed as if Emacs were restarting, typically from the system entropy. On systems lacking entropy pools, choose the seed from less-random volatile data such as the current time.

  If limit is a string, it means to choose a new seed based on the string’s contents.

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