Generate Random Integers, Including Negative Numbers

Jim Knicely authored this tip. The RANDOMINT(n) function returns one of the n integers from 0 through n – 1. Those are all positive integers. What if I want to include negative integers? That’s easy with a simple multiplication. Example: dbadmin=> SELECT DECODE(randomint(2), 1, 1, -1) * randomint(11) "Random INT from -10 to 10"; Random INT from -10 to 10 --------------------------- -1 (1 row) dbadmin=> SELECT DECODE(randomint(2), 1, 1, -1) * randomint(11) “Random INT from -10 to 10”; Random INT from -10 to 10 ————————— 3 (1 row) dbadmin=> SELECT DECODE(randomint(2), 1, 1, -1) * randomint(11) “Random INT from -10 to 10”; Random INT from -10 to 10 ————————— -7 (1 row) dbadmin=> SELECT DECODE(randomint(2), 1, 1, -1) * randomint(11) “Random INT from -10 to 10”; Random INT from -10 to 10 ————————— 9 (1 row) Have fun!