=over =item rand EXPR X X =item rand Returns a random fractional number greater than or equal to C<0> and less than the value of EXPR. (EXPR should be positive.) If EXPR is omitted, the value C<1> is used. Currently EXPR with the value C<0> is also special-cased as C<1> - this has not been documented before perl 5.8.0 and is subject to change in future versions of perl. Automatically calls C unless C has already been called. See also C. Apply C to the value returned by C if you want random integers instead of random fractional numbers. For example, int(rand(10)) returns a random integer between C<0> and C<9>, inclusive. (Note: If your rand function consistently returns numbers that are too large or too small, then your version of Perl was probably compiled with the wrong number of RANDBITS.) =back