In PHP, how do I generate a big pseudo-random number?

Question

I\'m looking for a way to generate a big random number with PHP, something like:

mt_rand($lower, $upper);

The closer I\'ve

Answer 1

Generating 'n' random chars is not really an option, as random('9999999999') could still, theoretically, return 1...

Here's a quite simple function:

function bcrand($max) { 
    return bcmul($max, (string)mt_rand() / mt_getrandmax() ); 
}

Note that it will NOT return N bits of randomness, just adjust scale