Home Library Learn Samples Downloads Support Community Forums
MSDN Library
Servers and Enterprise Development
SQL Server
SQL Server 2008
Product Documentation
SQL Server 2008 Books Online
Database Engine
Technical Reference
Transact-SQL Reference
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions (Transact-SQL)
Tutorial: Writing Transact-SQL Statements
+ (Add) (Transact-SQL)
+ (Unary Plus) (Transact-SQL)
+ (String Concatenation) (Transact-SQL)
+= (Add EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
+= (String Concatenation) (Transact-SQL)
- (Negative) (Transact-SQL)
- (Subtract) (Transact-SQL)
-= (Subtract EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
* (Multiply) (Transact-SQL)
*= (Multiply EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
/ (Divide) (Transact-SQL)
/= (Divide EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
\ (Backslash) (Transact-SQL)
% (Modulo) (Transact-SQL)
%= (Modulo EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
% (Wildcard - Character(s) to Match) (Transact-SQL)
& (Bitwise AND) (Transact-SQL)
&= (Bitwise AND EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
| (Bitwise OR) (Transact-SQL)
|= (Bitwise OR EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
^ (Bitwise Exclusive OR) (Transact-SQL)
^= (Bitwise Exclusive OR EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
~ (Bitwise NOT) (Transact-SQL)
= (Equals) (Transact-SQL)
> (Greater Than) (Transact-SQL)
< (Less Than) (Transact-SQL)
>= (Greater Than or Equal To) (Transact-SQL)
<= (Less Than or Equal To) (Transact-SQL)
<> (Not Equal To) (Transact-SQL)
!< (Not Less Than) (Transact-SQL)
!= (Not Equal To) (Transact-SQL)
!> (Not Greater Than) (Transact-SQL)
-- (Comment) (Transact-SQL)
/*...*/ (Comment) (Transact-SQL)
[ ] (Wildcard - Character(s) to Match) (Transact-SQL)
[^] (Wildcard - Character(s) Not to Match) (Transact-SQL)
_ (Wildcard - Match One Character) (Transact-SQL)
$PARTITION (Transact-SQL)
@@CONNECTIONS (Transact-SQL)
@@CPU_BUSY (Transact-SQL)
@@CURSOR_ROWS (Transact-SQL)
@@DATEFIRST (Transact-SQL)
@@DBTS (Transact-SQL)
@@ERROR (Transact-SQL)
@@FETCH_STATUS (Transact-SQL)
@@IDENTITY (Transact-SQL)
@@IDLE (Transact-SQL)
@@IO_BUSY (Transact-SQL)
@@LANGID (Transact-SQL)
@@LANGUAGE (Transact-SQL)
@@LOCK_TIMEOUT (Transact-SQL)
@@MAX_CONNECTIONS (Transact-SQL)
@@MAX_PRECISION (Transact-SQL)
@@NESTLEVEL (Transact-SQL)
@@OPTIONS (Transact-SQL)
@@PACK_RECEIVED (Transact-SQL)
@@PACK_SENT (Transact-SQL)
@@PACKET_ERRORS (Transact-SQL)
@@PROCID (Transact-SQL)
@@REMSERVER (Transact-SQL)
@@ROWCOUNT (Transact-SQL)
@@SERVERNAME (Transact-SQL)
@@SERVICENAME (Transact-SQL)
@@SPID (Transact-SQL)
@@TEXTSIZE (Transact-SQL)
@@TIMETICKS (Transact-SQL)
@@TOTAL_ERRORS (Transact-SQL)
@@TOTAL_READ (Transact-SQL)
@@TOTAL_WRITE (Transact-SQL)
@@TRANCOUNT (Transact-SQL)
@@VERSION (Transact-SQL)
ABS (Transact-SQL)
ACOS (Transact-SQL)
ADD SIGNATURE (Transact-SQL)
ALL (Transact-SQL)
ALTER Statements (Transact-SQL)
AND (Transact-SQL)
ANY (Transact-SQL)
APPLOCK_MODE (Transact-SQL)
APPLOCK_TEST (Transact-SQL)
APP_NAME (Transact-SQL)
ASCII (Transact-SQL)
ASIN (Transact-SQL)
ASSEMBLYPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
ASYMKEY_ID (Transact-SQL)
ASYMKEYPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
ATAN (Transact-SQL)
ATN2 (Transact-SQL)
AVG (Transact-SQL)
BACKUP (Transact-SQL)
BACKUP CERTIFICATE (Transact-SQL)
BACKUP MASTER KEY (Transact-SQL)
BACKUP SERVICE MASTER KEY (Transact-SQL)
BEGIN...END (Transact-SQL)
BEGIN CONVERSATION TIMER (Transact-SQL)
BEGIN DIALOG CONVERSATION (Transact-SQL)
BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
BEGIN TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
BETWEEN (Transact-SQL)
binary and varbinary (Transact-SQL)
BINARY_CHECKSUM (Transact-SQL)
bit (Transact-SQL)
BREAK (Transact-SQL)
BULK INSERT (Transact-SQL)
CASE (Transact-SQL)
CAST and CONVERT (Transact-SQL)
CATCH (TRY...CATCH) (Transact-SQL)
CEILING (Transact-SQL)
CERTPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
Cert_ID (Transact-SQL)
Change Data Capture Functions (Transact-SQL)
Change Tracking Functions (Transact-SQL)
char and varchar (Transact-SQL)
CHAR (Transact-SQL)
CHARINDEX (Transact-SQL)
CHECKPOINT (Transact-SQL)
CHECKSUM (Transact-SQL)
CHECKSUM_AGG
CLOSE (Transact-SQL)
CLOSE MASTER KEY (Transact-SQL)
CLOSE SYMMETRIC KEY (Transact-SQL)
COALESCE (Transact-SQL)
COLLATE (Transact-SQL)
COLLATIONPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
COL_LENGTH (Transact-SQL)
COL_NAME (Transact-SQL)
COLUMNPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
COLUMNS_UPDATED (Transact-SQL)
COMMIT TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
COMMIT WORK (Transact-SQL)
Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)
COMPUTE (Transact-SQL)
CONNECTIONPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
Constants (Transact-SQL)
CONTAINS (Transact-SQL)
CONTAINSTABLE (Transact-SQL)
CONTINUE (Transact-SQL)
CONTEXT_INFO (Transact-SQL)
Control-of-Flow Language (Transact-SQL)
CONVERT (Transact-SQL)
COS (Transact-SQL)
COT (Transact-SQL)
COUNT (Transact-SQL)
COUNT_BIG (Transact-SQL)
CREATE Statements (Transact-SQL)
CRYPT_GEN_RANDOM (Transact-SQL)
CURRENT_REQUEST_ID (Transact-SQL)
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP (Transact-SQL)
CURRENT_USER (Transact-SQL)
cursor (Transact-SQL)
CURSOR_STATUS (Transact-SQL)
Cursors (Transact-SQL)
Data Collector Functions (Transact-SQL)
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
DATABASE_PRINCIPAL_ID (Transact-SQL)
DATABASEPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
DATABASEPROPERTYEX (Transact-SQL)
DATALENGTH (Transact-SQL)
date (Transact-SQL)
DATEADD (Transact-SQL)
DATEDIFF (Transact-SQL)
DATENAME (Transact-SQL)
DATEPART (Transact-SQL)
datetime (Transact-SQL)
datetime2 (Transact-SQL)
datetimeoffset (Transact-SQL)
DAY (Transact-SQL)
DB_ID (Transact-SQL)
DB_NAME (Transact-SQL)
DBCC (Transact-SQL)
DEALLOCATE (Transact-SQL)
decimal and numeric (Transact-SQL)
DECLARE @local_variable (Transact-SQL)
DECLARE CURSOR (Transact-SQL)
DECRYPTBYASYMKEY (Transact-SQL)
DECRYPTBYCERT (Transact-SQL)
DECRYPTBYKEY (Transact-SQL)
DECRYPTBYKEYAUTOASYMKEY (Transact-SQL)
DECRYPTBYKEYAUTOCERT (Transact-SQL)
DECRYPTBYPASSPHRASE (Transact-SQL)
DEGREES (Transact-SQL)
DELETE (Transact-SQL)
DENSE_RANK (Transact-SQL)
DENY (Transact-SQL)
DIFFERENCE (Transact-SQL)
DISABLE TRIGGER (Transact-SQL)
DROP Statements (Transact-SQL)
ELSE (IF...ELSE) (Transact-SQL)
ENABLE TRIGGER (Transact-SQL)
ENCRYPTBYASYMKEY (Transact-SQL)
ENCRYPTBYCERT (Transact-SQL)
ENCRYPTBYKEY (Transact-SQL)
ENCRYPTBYPASSPHRASE (Transact-SQL)
END (BEGIN...END) (Transact-SQL)
END CONVERSATION (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_LINE (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_MESSAGE (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_NUMBER (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_PROCEDURE (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_SEVERITY (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_STATE (Transact-SQL)
EVENTDATA (Transact-SQL)
EXCEPT and INTERSECT (Transact-SQL)
EXECUTE AS (Transact-SQL)
EXECUTE AS Clause (Transact-SQL)
EXECUTE
EXISTS (Transact-SQL)
EXP (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
FETCH (Transact-SQL)
FILE_ID (Transact-SQL)
FILE_IDEX (Transact-SQL)
FILE_NAME (Transact-SQL)
FILEGROUP_ID (Transact-SQL)
FILEGROUP_NAME (Transact-SQL)
FILEGROUPPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
FILEPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
float and real (Transact-SQL)
FLOOR (Transact-SQL)
sys.fn_check_object_signatures (Transact-SQL)
fn_get_audit_file (Transact-SQL)
fn_get_sql (Transact-SQL)
fn_helpcollations (Transact-SQL)
fn_listextendedproperty (Transact-SQL)
sys.fn_xe_file_target_read_file (Transact-SQL)
fn_my_permissions (Transact-SQL)
fn_servershareddrives (Transact-SQL)
fn_trace_geteventinfo (Transact-SQL)
fn_trace_getfilterinfo (Transact-SQL)
fn_trace_getinfo (Transact-SQL)
fn_trace_gettable (Transact-SQL)
fn_virtualfilestats (Transact-SQL)
fn_virtualservernodes (Transact-SQL)
FOR Clause (Transact-SQL)
FORMATMESSAGE (Transact-SQL)
FREETEXT (Transact-SQL)
FREETEXTTABLE (Transact-SQL)
FROM (Transact-SQL)
FULLTEXTCATALOGPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
FULLTEXTSERVICEPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
Functions (Transact-SQL)
geography (Transact-SQL)
geometry (Transact-SQL)
GET CONVERSATION GROUP (Transact-SQL)
GET_FILESTREAM_TRANSACTION_CONTEXT (Transact-SQL)
GET_TRANSMISSION_STATUS (Transact-SQL)
GETANSINULL (Transact-SQL)
GETDATE (Transact-SQL)
GETUTCDATE (Transact-SQL)
GO (Transact-SQL)
GOTO (Transact-SQL)
GRANT (Transact-SQL)
GROUP BY (Transact-SQL)
GROUPING (Transact-SQL)
GROUPING_ID (Transact-SQL)
HAS_DBACCESS (Transact-SQL)
HAS_PERMS_BY_NAME (Transact-SQL)
HASHBYTES (Transact-SQL)
HAVING (Transact-SQL)
hierarchyid (Transact-SQL)
Hints (Transact-SQL)
HOST_ID (Transact-SQL)
HOST_NAME (Transact-SQL)
IDENT_CURRENT (Transact-SQL)
IDENT_INCR (Transact-SQL)
IDENT_SEED (Transact-SQL)
IDENTITY (Function) (Transact-SQL)
IDENTITY (Property) (Transact-SQL)
IF...ELSE (Transact-SQL)
image (Transact-SQL)
IN (Transact-SQL)
INDEXKEY_PROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
INDEXPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
INDEX_COL (Transact-SQL)
INSERT (Transact-SQL)
int, bigint, smallint, and tinyint (Transact-SQL)
INTO Clause (Transact-SQL)
IS_MEMBER (Transact-SQL)
IS_OBJECTSIGNED (Transact-SQL)
IS_SRVROLEMEMBER (Transact-SQL)
ISDATE (Transact-SQL)
IS [NOT] NULL (Transact-SQL)
ISNULL (Transact-SQL)
ISNUMERIC (Transact-SQL)
Key_GUID (Transact-SQL)
Key_ID (Transact-SQL)
KEY_NAME (Transact-SQL)
KILL (Transact-SQL)
KILL QUERY NOTIFICATION SUBSCRIPTION (Transact-SQL)
KILL STATS JOB (Transact-SQL)
LEFT (Transact-SQL)
LEN (Transact-SQL)
LIKE (Transact-SQL)
LOG (Transact-SQL)
LOG10 (Transact-SQL)
LOGINPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
LOWER (Transact-SQL)
LTRIM (Transact-SQL)
MAX (Transact-SQL)
MERGE (Transact-SQL)
MIN (Transact-SQL)
MIN_ACTIVE_ROWVERSION (Transact-SQL)
money and smallmoney (Transact-SQL)
MONTH (Transact-SQL)
MOVE CONVERSATION (Transact-SQL)
NCHAR (Transact-SQL)
nchar and nvarchar (Transact-SQL)
NEWID (Transact-SQL)
NEWSEQUENTIALID() (Transact-SQL)
NOT (Transact-SQL)
ntext, text, and image (Transact-SQL)
NTILE (Transact-SQL)
NULLIF (Transact-SQL)
numeric (Transact-SQL)
OBJECT_DEFINITION (Transact-SQL)
OBJECT_ID (Transact-SQL)
OBJECT_NAME (Transact-SQL)
OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME (Transact-SQL)
OBJECTPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
OBJECTPROPERTYEX (Transact-SQL)
ODBC Scalar Functions (Transact-SQL)
OPEN (Transact-SQL)
OPEN MASTER KEY (Transact-SQL)
OPEN SYMMETRIC KEY (Transact-SQL)
OPENDATASOURCE (Transact-SQL)
OPENQUERY (Transact-SQL)
OPENROWSET (Transact-SQL)
OPENXML (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
OPTION Clause (Transact-SQL)
OR (Transact-SQL)
ORDER BY Clause (Transact-SQL)
ORIGINAL_DB_NAME (Transact-SQL)
ORIGINAL_LOGIN (Transact-SQL)
OUTPUT Clause (Transact-SQL)
OVER Clause (Transact-SQL)
PARSENAME (Transact-SQL)
PathName (Transact-SQL)
PATINDEX (Transact-SQL)
PERMISSIONS (Transact-SQL)
PI (Transact-SQL)
POWER (Transact-SQL)
Predicate (Transact-SQL)
PRINT (Transact-SQL)
PUBLISHINGSERVERNAME (Transact-SQL)
PWDCOMPARE (Transact-SQL)
PWDENCRYPT (Transact-SQL)
QUOTENAME (Transact-SQL)
RADIANS (Transact-SQL)
RAISERROR
RAND (Transact-SQL)
RANK (Transact-SQL)
READTEXT (Transact-SQL)
real (Transact-SQL)
RECEIVE (Transact-SQL)
RECONFIGURE (Transact-SQL)
REPLACE (Transact-SQL)
REPLICATE (Transact-SQL)
Reserved Keywords (Transact-SQL)
RESTORE Statements for Restoring, Recovering, and Managing Backups (Transact-SQL)
RESTORE MASTER KEY (Transact-SQL)
RESTORE SERVICE MASTER KEY (Transact-SQL)
RETURN (Transact-SQL)
REVERSE (Transact-SQL)
REVERT (Transact-SQL)
REVOKE (Transact-SQL)
RIGHT (Transact-SQL)
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
ROLLBACK WORK (Transact-SQL)
ROUND (Transact-SQL)
ROW_NUMBER (Transact-SQL)
ROWCOUNT_BIG (Transact-SQL)
rowversion (Transact-SQL)
RTRIM (Transact-SQL)
SAVE TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
SCHEMA_ID (Transact-SQL)
SCHEMA_NAME (Transact-SQL)
SCOPE_IDENTITY (Transact-SQL)
Search Condition (Transact-SQL)
SELECT @local_variable (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
SEND (Transact-SQL)
SERVERPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
SESSION_USER (Transact-SQL)
SESSIONPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
SET @local_variable (Transact-SQL)
SET (Transact-SQL)
SETUSER (Transact-SQL)
SHUTDOWN (Transact-SQL)
SIGN (Transact-SQL)
SignByAsymKey (Transact-SQL)
SignByCert (Transact-SQL)
SIN (Transact-SQL)
smalldatetime (Transact-SQL)
smallint (Transact-SQL)
smallmoney (Transact-SQL)
SOME | ANY (Transact-SQL)
SOUNDEX (Transact-SQL)
SPACE (Transact-SQL)
sql_variant (Transact-SQL)
SQL_VARIANT_PROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
SQRT (Transact-SQL)
SQUARE (Transact-SQL)
STATS_DATE (Transact-SQL)
STDEV (Transact-SQL)
STDEVP (Transact-SQL)
STR (Transact-SQL)
STUFF (Transact-SQL)
SUBSTRING (Transact-SQL)
SUM (Transact-SQL)
SUSER_ID (Transact-SQL)
SUSER_NAME (Transact-SQL)
SUSER_SID (Transact-SQL)
SUSER_SNAME (Transact-SQL)
SWITCHOFFSET (Transact-SQL)
SYSDATETIME (Transact-SQL)
SYSDATETIMEOFFSET (Transact-SQL)
SYMKEYPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
System Stored Procedures (Transact-SQL)
System Tables (Transact-SQL)
System Views (Transact-SQL)
SYSUTCDATETIME (Transact-SQL)
sys.fn_builtin_permissions (Transact-SQL)
sys.fn_translate_permissions (Transact-SQL)
sys.fn_validate_plan_guide (Transact-SQL)
sys.login_token (Transact-SQL)
sys.user_token (Transact-SQL)
SYSTEM_USER (Transact-SQL)
table (Transact-SQL)
Table Value Constructor (Transact-SQL)
TAN (Transact-SQL)
TERTIARY_WEIGHTS (Transact-SQL)
text (Transact-SQL)
TEXTPTR (Transact-SQL)
TEXTVALID (Transact-SQL)
time (Transact-SQL)
tinyint (Transact-SQL)
TODATETIMEOFFSET (Transact-SQL)
TOP (Transact-SQL)
Trace Flags (Transact-SQL)
Transactions (Transact-SQL)
TRY...CATCH (Transact-SQL)
TRIGGER_NESTLEVEL (Transact-SQL)
TRUNCATE TABLE (Transact-SQL)
TYPE_ID (Transact-SQL)
TYPE_NAME (Transact-SQL)
TYPEPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
UNICODE (Transact-SQL)
UNION (Transact-SQL)
uniqueidentifier (Transact-SQL)
UPDATE (Transact-SQL)
UPDATE() (Transact-SQL)
UPDATE STATISTICS (Transact-SQL)
UPDATETEXT (Transact-SQL)
UPPER (Transact-SQL)
USE (Transact-SQL)
USER (Transact-SQL)
USER_ID (Transact-SQL)
USER_NAME (Transact-SQL)
VAR (Transact-SQL)
varbinary (Transact-SQL)
varchar (Transact-SQL)
VARP (Transact-SQL)
VerifySignedByCert (Transact-SQL)
VerifySignedByAsymKey (Transact-SQL)
WAITFOR (Transact-SQL)
WHERE (Transact-SQL)
WHILE (Transact-SQL)
WITH common_table_expression (Transact-SQL)
WITH XMLNAMESPACES (Transact-SQL)
WRITETEXT (Transact-SQL)
XACT_STATE (Transact-SQL)
xml (Transact-SQL)
xml_schema_namespace (Transact-SQL)
YEAR (Transact-SQL)
Expand Minimize
3 out of 7 rated this helpful - Rate this topic

RAND (Transact-SQL)

SQL Server 2008

Returns a pseudo-random float value from 0 through 1, exclusive.

Topic link iconTransact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Copy 

RAND ( [ seed ] )
seed

Is an integer expression (tinyint, smallint, or int) that gives the seed value. If seed is not specified, the SQL Server Database Engine assigns a seed value at random. For a specified seed value, the result returned is always the same.

Repetitive calls of RAND() with the same seed value return the same results.

For one connection, if RAND() is called with a specified seed value, all subsequent calls of RAND() produce results based on the seeded RAND() call. For example, the following query will always return the same sequence of numbers.

Copy 
SELECT RAND(100), RAND(), RAND()

The following example produces four different random numbers that are generated by the RAND function.

Copy 
DECLARE @counter smallint;
SET @counter = 1;
WHILE @counter < 5
   BEGIN
      SELECT RAND() Random_Number
      SET @counter = @counter + 1
   END;
GO
Did you find this helpful?
(1500 characters remaining)

Community Additions

ADD
© 2013 Microsoft. All rights reserved.