Template:Random/doc

{{random}} generates a random number, at least to the extent that non-mathematicians will be happy with the term "random", through simple markup. The number can be from 1 to whatever number you choose, up to 1000.

Syntax is straightforward:

{{random|1000}} = 127

This number will change every time the page loads.

Though this simple aspect is enough to power any number of functions — such as determining which random, numbered subpage to call on a page, the template does have additional sophistication, detailed at template:random on Wikipedia.

Example of calling forth a page

If you type the following, you will get a different quote of the week on every page load:

{{qotw/{{#expr:{{random|52}} + 1}}}}

Test it out by reloading this page several times. What you get below will be different on almost every page, though with a sample size of only 52, you're bound to get some repeats. The reason is because there are 53 pages in the following format:

{{qotw/n}}

However, there is no {{qotw/0}}. Thus by adding 1 to the randomly selected number between 0 and 52, we ensure the choice will be between the numbers 1 and 53.

Ace: Maybe it’s one of those blips you’ve told me about that are so small they don’t mess up time.

Seventh Doctor: Poe isn’t a small blip. He was a writer of enormous influence. If he’d lived and written another twenty years, the whole history of American and European literature would be different.

Ace: But it’s not anything really important, like a vaccine or something. It’s just books.

Seventh Doctor: (tightly) Literature is an integral part of Earth culture.

PROSE: The Algebra of Ice

Substitutive use

In some applications, you want to generate a random number, but you want that random number to "stick" on the page. That is, you don't want the number to change each time you reload the page. To do this, you have to substitute the template:

In this case, you would use the following syntax:

{{subst:random|1000}}

No matter how many times you reload the page, these random numbers will stick:

• , 601, 710, 700, 40