Aug 02, 2016 02:01 PM
Perhaps I’m missing it, but how do I generate random numbers? I am missing “randbetween” and “rnd” from Excel.
Thanks for any and all help.
Solved! Go to Solution.
Jun 25, 2020 02:00 PM
Here’s a way to generate random number using formula field in airtable
first choose a MIN and MAX range for your random numbers then use the following formula:
(VALUE(DATETIME_FORMAT(CREATED_TIME(), ‘0.smh’))*(MAX-MIN))+MIN
this generates the following:
Aug 02, 2016 02:56 PM
We don’t have any random number functions at the moment, but I’ll reach out to you once we implement something like this. Can you share why you need a random number function? We might be able to provide a workaround.
Aug 02, 2016 03:03 PM
I use Airtable to generate sample data for prototyping/mocking up a series of applications my company is developing. I often want to have sample data that represents a meaningful distribution across a set of values. In the past I either used Excel or https://www.mockaroo.com/
It’d be great to just use one tool.
Oct 12, 2016 10:13 PM
Am also missing a Random function,
Looking for a random function something like:
RANDOM()
RANDOM(Seed)
RANDOM(Seed, Range_Start, Range_End, Fraction_Digits)
use 0 to ignore seed
range start/end, either or both, could be negative.
fraction digits, for number of fraction digits in output
RANDOM(0,0,200) => 74 (0 for ignore seed, no fractional digits)
RANDOM(8495,-200,-100,5) => -158.78304 (8495 for seed, negative start and end, with 5 fractional digits)
RANDOM(8495,200,-100,5) => 158.78304 (8495 for seed, with 5 fractional digits, where start is higher than end)
RANDOM(VALUE(DATETIME_FORMAT(NOW(), ‘x’)),1000,2000,7) => 1622.9287305 (use current datetime to seed, with 7 fraction digits)
Mar 17, 2017 10:43 AM
I am looking for a RANDOM Sort capability. I am building a table of Questions to be entered into an app and I want to randomize the questions before they are manually entered or imported.
Mar 20, 2017 12:42 AM
@Ron_Sheridan if you have any input at all when it comes to development of that app, it would probably be a couple of minutes work for the programmer to shuffle the questions over there before they are shown. :slightly_smiling_face:
Jun 12, 2017 10:43 AM
PING. Any update on getting random number generator?
Jun 15, 2017 01:52 AM
Hey @Daniel_Robbins, I thought of something.
If you create a formula with VALUE(RECORD_ID()) you’ll get random numbers for each record. Maybe you can use this a a starting point. With some additional formulas (or even rollups) you should be able to scale it / put it in a certain range.
:slightly_smiling_face:
Jun 15, 2017 06:16 AM
Thanks. I’ll try that.
Jun 15, 2017 06:43 AM
You could actually expand that by using the CREATED_TIME() function too.
Grab the numbers from the time portion…
SUBSTITUTE(TIMESTR(CREATED_TIME()), ":", "")
Or only the seconds for example and use that to do an extra calculation, define a random position in the string (maybe with REPT) or whatever.
Dec 11, 2017 06:45 AM
Sorry but it is not working. With this formula I get the same numbers for several rows…
Dec 11, 2017 06:57 AM
Not very likely. Did you try to refresh the base?
Dec 11, 2017 07:08 AM
Yes didn´t help.
May be I am doing something wrong?
Dec 11, 2017 07:16 AM
Sorry. You are right. :slightly_smiling_face:
Dec 11, 2017 07:17 AM
What it does is grab numbers from the RECORD_ID. So the numbers you see are random, but not unique.
The other trick (with time) maybe works better in your case.
A combination of the two methods is an option too of course…
Dec 11, 2017 07:21 AM
With Record ID you get an unique output. But the outcome looks crazy (many numbers and letters) and so it is not realy usable for an ordernumber.
Dec 11, 2017 07:23 AM
For order numbers you can also use AT’s Auto Number field. Maybe with something in front of it…
Dec 11, 2017 07:29 AM
I want to hide the casenumbers to prevent vendors from gathering information out of it. So unfortunately this solution is not working for me.
In software like excel…you have the function RANDOM() for it.
Dec 12, 2017 10:48 AM
Try DATETIME_FORMAT(CREATED_TIME(),'X')
.
That will give you the Unix timestamp as a string; e.g., ‘1511398652’. You can then chop it up or otherwise obfuscate it as necessary. The results won’t be random, but they should be unique — with one exception: The first three records in a table are created at the time the table is, and all bear the same timestamp.
In theory, you can use 'x'
instead of 'X'
as the format specifier and get the timestamp with milliseconds included — ‘1360013296123’ is the example from the Airtable help page — but it appears CREATED_TIME()
is stored precise to the second only. The results I get with DATETIME_FORMAT(CREATED_TIME(),'x')
all have three zeroes as the rightmost three digits.
Dec 14, 2017 03:43 AM
Thanks Vann Hall I will use that!