RAND
Section: OpenSSL (1)
Updated: 2009-02-02
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NAME
rand - generate pseudo-random bytes
SYNOPSIS
openssl rand
[-out file]
[-rand file(s)]
[-base64]
[-hex]
num
DESCRIPTION
The rand command outputs num pseudo-random bytes after seeding
the random number generator once. As in other openssl command
line tools, PRNG seeding uses the file $HOME/.rnd or .rnd
in addition to the files given in the -rand option. A new
$HOME/.rnd or .rnd file will be written back if enough
seeding was obtained from these sources.
OPTIONS
- -out file
-
Write to file instead of standard output.
- -rand file(s)
-
Use specified file or files or EGD socket (see RAND_egd(3))
for seeding the random number generator.
Multiple files can be specified separated by a OS-dependent character.
The separator is ; for MS-Windows, , for OpenVMS, and : for
all others.
- -base64
-
Perform base64 encoding on the output.
- -hex
-
Show the output as a hex string.
SEE ALSO
RAND_bytes(3)