[php] Random number in range [min - max] using PHP

Is there a way to generate a random number based on a min and max?

For example, if min was 1 and max 20 it should generate any number between 1 and 20, including 1 and 20?

Try This one. It will generate id according to your wish.

function id()
{
 // add limit
$id_length = 20;

// add any character / digit
$alfa = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890";
$token = "";
for($i = 1; $i < $id_length; $i ++) {

  // generate randomly within given character/digits
  @$token .= $alfa[rand(1, strlen($alfa))];

}    
return $token;
}

rand(1,20)

Docs for PHP's rand function are here:

http://php.net/manual/en/function.rand.php

Use the srand() function to set the random number generator's seed value.

A quicker faster version would use mt_rand:

$min=1;
$max=20;
echo mt_rand($min,$max);

Source: http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.mt-rand.php.

NOTE: Your server needs to have the Math PHP module enabled for this to work. If it doesn't, bug your host to enable it, or you have to use the normal (and slower) rand().

In a new PHP7 there is a finally a support for a cryptographically secure pseudo-random integers.

int random_int ( int $min , int $max )

random_int — Generates cryptographically secure pseudo-random integers

which basically makes previous answers obsolete.

I have bundled the answers here and made it version independent;

function generateRandom($min = 1, $max = 20) {
    if (function_exists('random_int')):
        return random_int($min, $max); // more secure
    elseif (function_exists('mt_rand')):
        return mt_rand($min, $max); // faster
    endif;
    return rand($min, $max); // old
}

(rand() % ($max-$min)) + $min

or

rand ( $min , $max )

http://php.net/manual/en/function.rand.php