In <[🔎] 60f50c4a0908121232p4635c385m1d9e0d9b2d9352fd@mail.gmail.com>, Soren Orel wrote: >user@debian:~$ $[ ($RANDOM % 30 ) -30 ] >bash: -26: command not found >user@debian:~$ $[ ($RANDOM % 30 ) -30 ] >bash: -3: command not found >user@debian:~$ $[ ($RANDOM % 30 ) -30 ] >bash: -23: command not found >user@debian:~$ $[ ($RANDOM % 30 ) -30 ] >bash: -2: command not found >user@debian:~$ $[ ($RANDOM % 30 ) -30 ] >bash: -29: command not found [snip] >it still doesn't work, and it gives only negative numbers when using e.g.: >30....-30 You misunderstand how this works. The numbers you type above are not the range of the results. $RANDOM gives a random number. It has a relatively large range, I think 0-32K maybe even larger. The "% 30" divides the result by 30 and takes the remainder. So, no matter what the input, the output will be in the range 0..29. The "- 30" subtracts 30 from the result. Given in input domain of 0..29, the output range will be -30..-1. Examples: echo $((RANDOM % 6 + 1)) # Rolls a "normal" die[1]. echo $((RANDOM % 5 - 1)) # -2..2 echo $((RANDOM % 201 - 100)) # Percentage change in my stock value today. -- Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. ,= ,-_-. =. bss@iguanasuicide.net ((_/)o o(\_)) ICQ: 514984 YM/AIM: DaTwinkDaddy `-'(. .)`-' http://iguanasuicide.net/ \_/ [1] But not a fair one. If the $RANDOM function is completely random, so that over the "long tail" all values show up with the same frequency, the die will be slightly biased low.
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