How does one generate a random number in Apple's Swift language?

Question

I realize the Swift book provided an implementation of a random number generator. Is the best practice to copy and paste this implementation in one\'s own program? Or is t

Answer 1

Example for random number in between 10 (0-9);

import UIKit

let randomNumber = Int(arc4random_uniform(10))

Very easy code - simple and short.

Answer 2

I would like to add to existing answers that the random number generator example in the Swift book is a Linear Congruence Generator (LCG), it is a severely limited one and shouldn't be except for the must trivial examples, where quality of randomness doesn't matter at all. And a LCG should never be used for cryptographic purposes.

arc4random() is much better and can be used for most purposes, but again should not be used for cryptographic purposes.

If you want something that is guaranteed to be cryptographically secure, use SecCopyRandomBytes(). Note that if you build a random number generator into something, someone else might end up (mis)-using it for cryptographic purposes (such as password, key or salt generation), then you should consider using SecCopyRandomBytes() anyway, even if your need doesn't quite require that.

Answer 3

 let MAX : UInt32 = 9
 let MIN : UInt32 = 1

    func randomNumber()
{
    var random_number = Int(arc4random_uniform(MAX) + MIN)
    print ("random = ", random_number);
}

Answer 4

Edit for Swift 4.2

Starting in Swift 4.2, instead of using the imported C function arc4random_uniform(), you can now use Swift’s own native functions.

// Generates integers starting with 0 up to, and including, 10
Int.random(in: 0 ... 10)

You can use random(in:) to get random values for other primitive values as well; such as Int, Double, Float and even Bool.

Swift versions < 4.2

This method will generate a random Int value between the given minimum and maximum

func randomInt(min: Int, max: Int) -> Int {
    return min + Int(arc4random_uniform(UInt32(max - min + 1)))
}

Answer 5

Edit: Updated for Swift 3.0

arc4random works well in Swift, but the base functions are limited to 32-bit integer types (Int is 64-bit on iPhone 5S and modern Macs). Here's a generic function for a random number of a type expressible by an integer literal:

public func arc4random<T: ExpressibleByIntegerLiteral>(_ type: T.Type) -> T {
    var r: T = 0
    arc4random_buf(&r, MemoryLayout<T>.size)
    return r
}

We can use this new generic function to extend UInt64, adding boundary arguments and mitigating modulo bias. (This is lifted straight from arc4random.c)

public extension UInt64 {
    public static func random(lower: UInt64 = min, upper: UInt64 = max) -> UInt64 {
        var m: UInt64
        let u = upper - lower
        var r = arc4random(UInt64.self)

        if u > UInt64(Int64.max) {
            m = 1 + ~u
        } else {
            m = ((max - (u * 2)) + 1) % u
        }

        while r < m {
            r = arc4random(UInt64.self)
        }

        return (r % u) + lower
    }
}

With that we can extend Int64 for the same arguments, dealing with overflow:

public extension Int64 {
    public static func random(lower: Int64 = min, upper: Int64 = max) -> Int64 {
        let (s, overflow) = Int64.subtractWithOverflow(upper, lower)
        let u = overflow ? UInt64.max - UInt64(~s) : UInt64(s)
        let r = UInt64.random(upper: u)

        if r > UInt64(Int64.max)  {
            return Int64(r - (UInt64(~lower) + 1))
        } else {
            return Int64(r) + lower
        }
    }
}

To complete the family...

private let _wordSize = __WORDSIZE

public extension UInt32 {
    public static func random(lower: UInt32 = min, upper: UInt32 = max) -> UInt32 {
        return arc4random_uniform(upper - lower) + lower
    }
}

public extension Int32 {
    public static func random(lower: Int32 = min, upper: Int32 = max) -> Int32 {
        let r = arc4random_uniform(UInt32(Int64(upper) - Int64(lower)))
        return Int32(Int64(r) + Int64(lower))
    }
}

public extension UInt {
    public static func random(lower: UInt = min, upper: UInt = max) -> UInt {
        switch (_wordSize) {
            case 32: return UInt(UInt32.random(UInt32(lower), upper: UInt32(upper)))
            case 64: return UInt(UInt64.random(UInt64(lower), upper: UInt64(upper)))
            default: return lower
        }
    }
}

public extension Int {
    public static func random(lower: Int = min, upper: Int = max) -> Int {
        switch (_wordSize) {
            case 32: return Int(Int32.random(Int32(lower), upper: Int32(upper)))
            case 64: return Int(Int64.random(Int64(lower), upper: Int64(upper)))
            default: return lower
        }
    }
}

After all that, we can finally do something like this:

let diceRoll = UInt64.random(lower: 1, upper: 7)

Answer 6

Without arc4Random_uniform() in some versions of Xcode(in 7.1 it runs but doesn't autocomplete for me). You can do this instead.

To generate a random number from 0-5. First

import GameplayKit

Then

let diceRoll = GKRandomSource.sharedRandom().nextIntWithUpperBound(6)