NAME

rand − Generate pseudo-random bytes

SYNOPSIS

openssl rand [−out filename] [−rand filename] [−base64] num

OPTIONS

−out file
Writes to file instead of standard output. 

−rand file(s)
Uses a specified file or files or EGD socket for seeding the random number generator.  (See RAND_egd(3).) Multiple files can be separated by an OS-dependent character. The separator is a semicolon (:) for MS-Windows, a comma (,)  for OpenVMS, and a colon (:) for all others. 

−base64
Performs base64 encoding on the output.

DESCRIPTION

The rand command outputs num pseudo-random bytes after seeding the random number generater 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. 

SEE ALSO

Functions: RAND_bytes(3)