How do I generate random number for each row in a TSQL Select?

Question

I need a different random number for each row in my table. The following seemingly obvious code uses the same random value for each row.

SELECT table_name,          


        

Answer 1

The problem I sometimes have with the selected "Answer" is that the distribution isn't always even. If you need a very even distribution of random 1 - 14 among lots of rows, you can do something like this (my database has 511 tables, so this works. If you have less rows than you do random number span, this does not work well):

SELECT table_name, ntile(14) over(order by newId()) randomNumber 
FROM information_schema.tables

This kind of does the opposite of normal random solutions in the sense that it keeps the numbers sequenced and randomizes the other column.

Remember, I have 511 tables in my database (which is pertinent only b/c we're selecting from the information_schema). If I take the previous query and put it into a temp table #X, and then run this query on the resulting data:

select randomNumber, count(*) ct from #X
group by randomNumber

I get this result, showing me that my random number is VERY evenly distributed among the many rows: