RAND(1)                6/Sep/2001 (0.9.7m)                RAND(1)


     NAME
          rand - generate pseudo-random bytes

     SYNOPSIS
          openssl rand [-out file] [-rand file(s)] [-base64] num

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

     OPTIONS
          -out file
              Write to file instead of standard output.

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

          -base64
              Perform base64 encoding on the output.

     SEE ALSO
          RAND_bytes(3)


     Page 1                                          (printed 7/22/08)