Random alphanumeric combination... 1

[Brezhnev]

Hi all!
I need to generate random alphanumeric combination of 3.
For example : 3A4 .
Please note that it could happend that all three are digits or all three are letters. Playing around with
RAND() function but have a feeling there is a better way.

Need advise fast. Thanks a lot.

 

[mkrausnick]

try right(sys2015(),3)

It may repeat itself, but the probability is very low that it would repeat itself very often. Of couse, there are only 36 cubed possibilities anyway, so at some point they will repeat.

You said you needed advise fast, so this is a fast answer.



Mike Krausnick
Dublin, California

 

[DSummZZZ]

Try this:

=Rand(-1)  &&... random seed from clock

CLEAR
FOR zzzz = 1 TO 20
   ?rand3()
NEXT 


*............. Rand3 ............
FUNCTION Rand3
Store '0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ' To cStr
STORE '' TO cRetStr

For zzz = 1 To 3
   nWhichItem = Int(36 * Rand() + 1)  &&.. 36 total possiblities
   cRetStr = cRetStr + Substr(cStr, nWhichItem, 1)  
Next
RETURN cRetStr

-Dave S.-

Even more Fox stuff at:

http://www.davesummers.net/foxprolinks.htm

 

[Brezhnev]

thanks a lot.Just one question -- why would i need first line ( = Rand(-1)) ?

thanks again

 

[DSummZZZ]

It is used to more or less initialize the 'randomizer'. From the help file:
If nSeedValue is negative the first time you issued RAND( ), a seed value from the system clock is used. To achieve the most random sequence of numbers, issue RAND( ) initially with a negative argument and then issue RAND( ) without an argument.




-Dave S.-

Even more Fox stuff at:

http://www.davesummers.net/foxprolinks.htm

 

[TheMissionary]

RAND(-1) seeds the random function with a clock value. This quasi-randomizes the random number generator. If you did not first seed the function and then produced two lists of random numbers, those two lists would be identical. If you then seed the function, the two lists of random numbers will be different.

 

[Brezhnev]

question is closed ..thanks a lot guys for your help.