Random float number between 0 and 1.0 php [duplicate]

Answer 1

mt_rand() / mt_getrandmax();

Avoid the rand() function, since it usually depends on the platform's C rand() implementation, generally creating numbers with a very simple pattern. See this comment on php.net

Answer 2

Cast to float^* and divide by getrandmax().

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_{* It seems that the cast is unnecessary in PHP's arbitrary type-juggling rules. It would be in other languages, though.}

Answer 3

$v = mt_rand() / mt_getrandmax();

will do that.

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In case you want only one decimal place (as in the examples from the question) just round() the value you get...

$v = round( $v, 1 );

...or calculate a number between 0 and 10 and divide by 10:

$v = mt_rand( 0, 10 ) / 10;

Answer 4

What about simply dividing by 10?

$randomFloat = rand(0, 10) / 10;
var_dump($randomFloat);

//eg. float(0.7)

Answer 5

how about this simple solution:

abs(1-mt_rand()/mt_rand()) 

or

/**
 * Generate Float Random Number
 *
 * @param float $Min Minimal value
 * @param float $Max Maximal value
 * @param int $round The optional number of decimal digits to round to. default 0 means not round
 * @return float Random float value
 */
function float_rand($Min, $Max, $round=0){
    //validate input
    if ($min>$Max) { $min=$Max; $max=$Min; }
        else { $min=$Min; $max=$Max; }
    $randomfloat = $min + mt_rand() / mt_getrandmax() * ($max - $min);
    if($round>0)
        $randomfloat = round($randomfloat,$round);

    return $randomfloat;
}

Answer 6

According to the PHP documentation, if you're using PHP 7 you can generate a cryptographically secure pseudorandom integer using random_int

With that said, here's a function that utilizes this to generate a random float between two numbers:

function random_float($min, $max) {
    return random_int($min, $max - 1) + (random_int(0, PHP_INT_MAX - 1) / PHP_INT_MAX );
}

Although random_int() is more secure than mt_rand(), keep in mind that it's also slower.

A previous version of this answer suggested you use PHP rand(), and had a horrible implementation. I wanted to change my answer without repeating what others had already stated, and now here we are.