Random Numbers

Ruby comes with a random number generator. The method to get a randomly chosen number is rand. If you call rand, you'll get a float greater than or equal to 0.0 and less than 1.0. If you give it an integer parameter (by calling rand(5) ), you will get an integer value greater than or equal to 0 and less than 5.
Here's an example: p026phrase.rb

# p026phrase.rb
                =begin
                  If you call rand, you'll get a float greater than or equal to 0.0
                  and less than 1.0. If you give it an integer parameter (by calling rand(5) ),
                  you will get an integer value greater than or equal to 0 and less than 5
                =end

# The program below makes three lists of words, and then randomly picks one word
                # from each of the three lists and prints out the result
                word_list_one = ['24/7', 'multi-Tier', '30,000 foot', 'B-to-B', 'win-win', 'front-end',
                                 'web-based', 'pervasive', 'smart', 'six-sigma', 'critical-path', 'dynamic']
                word_list_two = ['empowered', 'sticky', 'value-added', 'oriented', 'centric', 'distributed',
                                 'clustered', 'branded', 'outside-the-box', 'positioned', 'networked', 'focused',
                                 'leveraged', 'aligned', 'targeted', 'shared', 'cooperative', 'accelerated']
                word_list_three = ['process', 'tipping-point', 'solution', 'architecture', 'core competency',
                                   'strategy', 'mindshare', 'portal', 'space', 'vision', 'paradigm', 'mission']

one_len = word_list_one.length
                two_len = word_list_two.length
                three_len = word_list_three.length

rand1 = rand(one_len)
                rand2 = rand(two_len)
                rand3 = rand(three_len)

phrase = word_list_one[rand1] + " " + word_list_two[rand2] + " " + word_list_three[rand3]

puts phrase

The above program makes three lists of words, and then randomly picks one word from each of the three lists and prints out the result.

RubyLearning.com

Ruby helps programmers have more fun!

Random Numbers