Generating Random Number In Each Row In Oracle Query

Question

I want to select all rows of a table followed by a random number between 1 to 9:

select t.*, (select dbms_random.value(1,9) num from dual) as RandomNumber
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Answer 1

At first I thought that this would work:

select DBMS_Random.Value(1,9) output
from   ...

However, this does not generate an even distribution of output values:

select output,
       count(*)
from   (
       select round(dbms_random.value(1,9)) output
       from   dual
       connect by level <= 1000000)
group by output
order by 1

1   62423
2   125302
3   125038
4   125207
5   124892
6   124235
7   124832
8   125514
9   62557

The reasons are pretty obvious I think.

I'd suggest using something like:

floor(dbms_random.value(1,10))

Hence:

select output,
       count(*)
from   (
       select floor(dbms_random.value(1,10)) output
       from   dual
       connect by level <= 1000000)
group by output
order by 1

1   111038
2   110912
3   111155
4   111125
5   111084
6   111328
7   110873
8   111532
9   110953

Answer 2

Something like?

select t.*, round(dbms_random.value() * 8) + 1 from foo t;

Edit: David has pointed out this gives uneven distribution for 1 and 9.

As he points out, the following gives a better distribution:

select t.*, floor(dbms_random.value(1, 10)) from foo t;

Answer 3

you don’t need a select … from dual, just write:

SELECT t.*, dbms_random.value(1,9) RandomNumber
  FROM myTable t

Answer 4

If you just use round then the two end numbers (1 and 9) will occur less frequently, to get an even distribution of integers between 1 and 9 then:

SELECT MOD(Round(DBMS_RANDOM.Value(1, 99)), 9) + 1 FROM DUAL