How do I generate random integers within a specific range in Java?

In Java 1.7 or later, the standard way to do this is as follows:

import java.util.concurrent.ThreadLocalRandom;

// nextInt is normally exclusive of the top value,
// so add 1 to make it inclusive
int randomNum = ThreadLocalRandom.current().nextInt(min, max + 1);

See the relevant JavaDoc. This approach has the advantage of not needing to explicitly initialize a java.util.Random instance, which can be a source of confusion and error if used inappropriately.

However, conversely there is no way to explicitly set the seed so it can be difficult to reproduce results in situations where that is useful such as testing or saving game states or similar. In those situations, the pre-Java 1.7 technique shown below can be used.

Before Java 1.7, the standard way to do this is as follows:

import java.util.Random;

/**
 * Returns a pseudo-random number between min and max, inclusive.
 * The difference between min and max can be at most
 * <code>Integer.MAX_VALUE - 1</code>.
 *
 * @param min Minimum value
 * @param max Maximum value.  Must be greater than min.
 * @return Integer between min and max, inclusive.
 * @see java.util.Random#nextInt(int)
 */
public static int randInt(int min, int max) {

    // NOTE: This will (intentionally) not run as written so that folks
    // copy-pasting have to think about how to initialize their
    // Random instance.  Initialization of the Random instance is outside
    // the main scope of the question, but some decent options are to have
    // a field that is initialized once and then re-used as needed or to
    // use ThreadLocalRandom (if using at least Java 1.7).
    // 
    // In particular, do NOT do 'Random rand = new Random()' here or you
    // will get not very good / not very random results.
    Random rand;

    // nextInt is normally exclusive of the top value,
    // so add 1 to make it inclusive
    int randomNum = rand.nextInt((max - min) + 1) + min;

    return randomNum;
}

See the relevant JavaDoc. In practice, the java.util.Random class is often preferable to java.lang.Math.random().

In particular, there is no need to reinvent the random integer generation wheel when there is a straightforward API within the standard library to accomplish the task.

Note that this approach is more biased and less efficient than a nextInt approach, https://stackoverflow.com/a/738651/360211

One standard pattern for accomplishing this is:

Min + (int)(Math.random() * ((Max - Min) + 1))

The Java Math library function Math.random() generates a double value in the range [0,1). Notice this range does not include the 1.

In order to get a specific range of values first, you need to multiply by the magnitude of the range of values you want covered.

Math.random() * ( Max - Min )

This returns a value in the range [0,Max-Min), where 'Max-Min' is not included.

For example, if you want [5,10), you need to cover five integer values so you use

Math.random() * 5

This would return a value in the range [0,5), where 5 is not included.

Now you need to shift this range up to the range that you are targeting. You do this by adding the Min value.

Min + (Math.random() * (Max - Min))

You now will get a value in the range [Min,Max). Following our example, that means [5,10):

5 + (Math.random() * (10 - 5))

But, this still doesn't include Max and you are getting a double value. In order to get the Max value included, you need to add 1 to your range parameter (Max - Min) and then truncate the decimal part by casting to an int. This is accomplished via:

Min + (int)(Math.random() * ((Max - Min) + 1))

And there you have it. A random integer value in the range [Min,Max], or per the example [5,10]:

5 + (int)(Math.random() * ((10 - 5) + 1))

Use:

minValue + rn.nextInt(maxValue - minValue + 1)

You can edit your second code example to:

Random rn = new Random();
int range = maximum - minimum + 1;
int randomNum =  rn.nextInt(range) + minimum;

The Math.Random class in Java is 0-based. So, if you write something like this:

Random rand = new Random();
int x = rand.nextInt(10);

x will be between 0-9 inclusive.

So, given the following array of 25 items, the code to generate a random number between 0 (the base of the array) and array.length would be:

String[] i = new String[25];
Random rand = new Random();
int index = 0;

index = rand.nextInt( i.length );

Since i.length will return 25, the nextInt( i.length ) will return a number between the range of 0-24. The other option is going with Math.Random which works in the same way.

index = (int) Math.floor(Math.random() * i.length);

For a better understanding, check out forum post Random Intervals (archive.org).

Forgive me for being fastidious, but the solution suggested by the majority, i.e., min + rng.nextInt(max - min + 1)), seems perilous due to the fact that:

• rng.nextInt(n) cannot reach Integer.MAX_VALUE.
• (max - min) may cause overflow when min is negative.

A foolproof solution would return correct results for any min <= max within [Integer.MIN_VALUE, Integer.MAX_VALUE]. Consider the following naive implementation:

int nextIntInRange(int min, int max, Random rng) {
   if (min > max) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot draw random int from invalid range [" + min + ", " + max + "].");
   }
   int diff = max - min;
   if (diff >= 0 && diff != Integer.MAX_VALUE) {
      return (min + rng.nextInt(diff + 1));
   }
   int i;
   do {
      i = rng.nextInt();
   } while (i < min || i > max);
   return i;
}

Although inefficient, note that the probability of success in the while loop will always be 50% or higher.

I wonder if any of the random number generating methods provided by an Apache Commons Math library would fit the bill.

For example: RandomDataGenerator.nextInt or RandomDataGenerator.nextLong

 rand.nextInt((max+1) - min) + min;

To generate a random number "in between two numbers", use the following code:

Random r = new Random();
int lowerBound = 1;
int upperBound = 11;
int result = r.nextInt(upperBound-lowerBound) + lowerBound;

This gives you a random number in between 1 (inclusive) and 11 (exclusive), so initialize the upperBound value by adding 1. For example, if you want to generate random number between 1 to 10 then initialize the upperBound number with 11 instead of 10.

int random = minimum + Double.valueOf(Math.random()*(maximum-minimum )).intValue();

Or take a look to RandomUtils from Apache Commons.

In case of rolling a dice it would be random number between 1 to 6 (not 0 to 6), so:

face = 1 + randomNumbers.nextInt(6);

rand.nextInt((max+1) - min) + min;

This is working fine.

Java 17 introduced the RandomGenerator interface, which provides a int nextInt(int origin, int bound) method to get a random integer in a range:

// Returns a random int between minimum (inclusive) & maximum (exclusive)
int randomInt = RandomGenerator.getDefault().nextInt(minimum, maximum);

In addition to being used for the new random generation algorithms added in Java 17, this interface was added to the existing random generation classes (Random, SecureRandom, SplittableRandom, and ThreadLocalRandom). Therefore, as of Java 17, these classes have this bounded nextInt method:

new Random().nextInt(minimum, maximum);
new SecureRandom().nextInt(minimum, maximum);
new SplittableRandom().nextInt(minimum, maximum);
new ThreadLocalRandom().nextInt(minimum, maximum);

This method is new to Random and SecureRandom as of Java 17. Prior to Java 17, ThreadLocalRandom and SplittableRandom already had this method, though it was not specified by a shared interface.

Random rng = new Random();
int min = 3;
int max = 11;
int upperBound = max - min + 1; // upper bound is exclusive, so +1
int num = min + rng.nextInt(upperBound);
System.out.println(num);

int randomNum = 5 + (int)(Math.random()*5);

Range 5-10

I am thinking to linearly normalize the generated random numbers into desired range by using the following. Let x be a random number, let a and b be the minimum and maximum range of desired normalized number.

Then below is just a very simple code snipplet to test the range produced by the linear mapping.

public static void main(String[] args) {
    int a = 100;
    int b = 1000;
    int lowest = b;
    int highest = a;
    int count = 100000;
    Random random = new Random();
    for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
        int nextNumber = (int) ((Math.abs(random.nextDouble()) * (b - a))) + a;
        if (nextNumber < a || nextNumber > b) {
            System.err.println("number not in range :" + nextNumber);
        }
        else {
            System.out.println(nextNumber);
        }
        if (nextNumber < lowest) {
            lowest = nextNumber;
        }
        if (nextNumber > highest) {
            highest = nextNumber;
        }
    }
    System.out.println("Produced " + count + " numbers from " + lowest
            + " to " + highest);
}

Random random = new Random();
int max = 10;
int min = 3;
int randomNum = random.nextInt(max) % (max - min + 1) + min;

The following code could be used:

ThreadLocalRandom.current().nextInt(rangeStart, rangeEndExclusive)

You can use the following way to do that:

int range = 10;
int min = 5
Random r = new Random();
int = r.nextInt(range) + min;

Making the following change in Attempt 1 should do the work -

randomNum = minimum + (int)(Math.random() * (maximum - minimum) );

Check this for working code.

This will generate Random numbers list with range (Min - Max) with no duplicate.

generateRandomListNoDuplicate(1000, 8000, 500);

Add this method.

private void generateRandomListNoDuplicate(int min, int max, int totalNoRequired) {
    Random rng = new Random();
    Set<Integer> generatedList = new LinkedHashSet<>();
    while (generatedList.size() < totalNoRequired) {
        Integer radnomInt = rng.nextInt(max - min + 1) + min;
        generatedList.add(radnomInt);
    }
}

Hope this will help you.

The below code generates a random number between 100,000 and 900,000. This code will generate six digit values. I'm using this code to generate a six-digit OTP.

Use import java.util.Random to use this random method.

import java.util.Random;

// Six digits random number generation for OTP
Random rnd = new Random();
long longregisterOTP = 100000 + rnd.nextInt(900000);
System.out.println(longregisterOTP);

The following is another example using Random and forEach

int firstNum = 20;//Inclusive
int lastNum = 50;//Exclusive
int streamSize = 10;
Random num = new Random().ints(10, 20, 50).forEach(System.out::println);

Use java.util for Random for general use.

You can define your minimum and maximum range to get those results.

Random rand=new Random();
rand.nextInt((max+1) - min) + min;

int func(int max, int min){

      int range = max - min + 1;
      
      // Math.random() function will return a random no between [0.0,1.0).
      int res = (int) ( Math.random()*range)+min;

      return res;
}

Use Apache Lang3 Commons

Integer.parseInt(RandomStringUtils.randomNumeric(6, 6));

Min Value 100000 to Max Value 999999

import java.util.Random;

public class RandomSSNTest {

    public static void main(String args[]) {
        generateDummySSNNumber();
    }


    //831-33-6049
    public static void generateDummySSNNumber() {
        Random random = new Random();

        int id1 = random.nextInt(1000);//3
        int id2 = random.nextInt(100);//2
        int id3 = random.nextInt(10000);//4

        System.out.print((id1+"-"+id2+"-"+id3));
    }

}

You can also use

import java.util.concurrent.ThreadLocalRandom;
Random random = ThreadLocalRandom.current();

However, this class doesn’t perform well in a multi-threaded environment.

To avoid repeating what have been said multiple times, I am showing an alternative for those that need a cryptographically stronger pseudo-random number generator by using the SecureRandom class, which extends the class Random. From source one can read:

This class provides a cryptographically strong random number generator (RNG). A cryptographically strong random number minimally complies with the statistical random number generator tests specified in FIPS 140-2, Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules, section 4.9.1. Additionally, SecureRandom must produce non-deterministic output. Therefore any seed material passed to a SecureRandom object must be unpredictable, and all SecureRandom output sequences must be cryptographically strong, as described in RFC 1750: Randomness Recommendations for Security.

A caller obtains a SecureRandom instance via the no-argument constructor or one of the getInstance methods:

  SecureRandom random = new SecureRandom();  

Many SecureRandom implementations are in the form of a pseudo-random number generator (PRNG), which means they use a deterministic algorithm to produce a pseudo-random sequence from a true random seed. Other implementations may produce true random numbers, and yet others may use a combination of both techniques.

To generate a random number between a min and max values inclusive:

public static int generate(SecureRandom secureRandom, int min, int max) {
        return min + secureRandom.nextInt((max - min) + 1);
}

for a given a min (inclusive) and max (exclusive) values:

return min + secureRandom.nextInt((max - min));

A running code example:

public class Main {

    public static int generate(SecureRandom secureRandom, int min, int max) {
        return min + secureRandom.nextInt((max - min) + 1);
    }

    public static void main(String[] arg) {
        SecureRandom random = new SecureRandom();
        System.out.println(generate(random, 0, 2 ));
    }
}

Source such as stackoverflow, baeldung, geeksforgeeks provide comparisons between Random and SecureRandom classes.

From baeldung one can read:

The most common way of using SecureRandom is to generate int, long, float, double or boolean values:

int randomInt = secureRandom.nextInt();
long randomLong = secureRandom.nextLong();
float randomFloat = secureRandom.nextFloat();
double randomDouble = secureRandom.nextDouble();
boolean randomBoolean = secureRandom.nextBoolean();

For generating int values we can pass an upper bound as a parameter:

int randomInt = secureRandom.nextInt(upperBound);

In addition, we can generate a stream of values for int, double and long:

IntStream randomIntStream = secureRandom.ints();
LongStream randomLongStream = secureRandom.longs();
DoubleStream randomDoubleStream = secureRandom.doubles();

For all streams we can explicitly set the stream size:

IntStream intStream = secureRandom.ints(streamSize);

This class offers several other options (e.g., choosing the underlying random number generator) that are out of the scope of this question.

A simple way to generate n random numbers between a and b e.g a =90, b=100, n =20

Random r = new Random();
for(int i =0; i<20; i++){
    System.out.println(r.ints(90, 100).iterator().nextInt());
}

r.ints() returns an IntStream and has several useful methods, have look at its API.

public static void main(String[] args) {

    Random ran = new Random();

    int min, max;
    Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
    System.out.println("Enter min range:");
    min = sc.nextInt();
    System.out.println("Enter max range:");
    max = sc.nextInt();
    int num = ran.nextInt(min);
    int num1 = ran.nextInt(max);
    System.out.println("Random Number between given range is " + num1);

}

Here's a function that returns exactly one integer random number in a range defined by lowerBoundIncluded and upperBoundIncluded, as requested by user42155

SplittableRandom splittableRandom = new SplittableRandom();

BiFunction<Integer,Integer,Integer> randomInt = (lowerBoundIncluded, upperBoundIncluded)
    -> splittableRandom.nextInt(lowerBoundIncluded, upperBoundIncluded + 1);

randomInt.apply( …, … ); // gets the random number

…or shorter for the one-time generation of a random number

new SplittableRandom().nextInt(lowerBoundIncluded, upperBoundIncluded + 1);

If you don't want to re-invent the wheel, her is a one liner, no-brainer solution:

RandomStringUtils.randomNumeric(count); // where count is the number of digits you want in the random number.

Apache Utils provides many options to generate whatever format of random number you wish for.

You can do as below.

import java.util.Random;
public class RandomTestClass {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Random r = new Random();
        int max, min;
        Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
        System.out.println("Enter maximum value : ");
        max = scanner.nextInt();
        System.out.println("Enter minimum value : ");
        min = scanner.nextInt();
        int randomNum;
        randomNum = r.nextInt(max) + min;
        System.out.println("Random Number : " + randomNum);
    }

}