Random.Next Method (Int32, Int32)
[ This article is for Windows Phone 8 developers. If you’re developing for Windows 10, see the latest documentation. ]
Returns a random number within a specified range.
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
'Declaration Public Overridable Function Next ( _ minValue As Integer, _ maxValue As Integer _ ) As Integer
Parameters
- minValue
- Type: System.Int32
The inclusive lower bound of the random number returned.
- maxValue
- Type: System.Int32
The exclusive upper bound of the random number returned. maxValue must be greater than or equal to minValue.
Return Value
Type: System.Int32A 32-bit signed integer greater than or equal to minValue and less than maxValue; that is, the range of return values includes minValue but not maxValue. If minValue equals maxValue, minValue is returned.
| Exception | Condition |
|---|---|
| ArgumentOutOfRangeException | minValue is greater than maxValue. |
Unlike the other overloads of the Next method, which return only non-negative values, this method can return a negative random integer.
Notes to InheritorsIf you derive a class from Random and override the Sample method, the distribution provided by the derived class implementation of the Sample method is not used in calls to the base class implementation of the Random.Next(Int32, Int32) method overload if the difference between the minValue and maxValue parameters is greater than Int32.MaxValue. Instead, the uniform distribution returned by the base Random class is used. This behavior improves the overall performance of the Random class. To modify this behavior to call the Sample method in the derived class, you must also override the Random.Next(Int32, Int32) method overload.
The following example uses the Random.Next(Int32, Int32) method to generate random integers with three distinct ranges. Note that the exact output from the example depends on the system-supplied seed value passed to the Random class constructor.