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}} = 623
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.
