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In Java random integers in range can be produced in many ways. In this post we show how to generate random numbers using Java 8 features!

Random integers using for loop

List<Integer> forLoopRange(int limit, int from, int to) {
    Random random = new Random();
    int bound = to-from;
    List<Integer> numbers = new ArrayList<>(limit);
    for (int i = 1; i <= limit; i++) {
        numbers.add(random.nextInt(bound)+from);
    }
    return numbers;
}

When can call the above code with sample parameters – forLoopRange(limit, 20, 30): 

[25, 25, 21, 26, 21, 20, 28, 28, 25, 29]

Random integers from Random.ints

The shortest and most convenient way to generate random range of integers is to use new in Java 8 method Random.ints() that returns IntStream of random ints: 

List<Integer> randomInts(int limit, int from, int to) {
    Random rand = new Random();
    return rand.ints(limit, from, to).boxed().collect(toList());
}

Let’s execute it with sample parameters – randomInts(limit, 10, 20): 

[17, 17, 18, 15, 19, 14, 18, 17, 19, 12]

Random numbers with IntStream.generate()

If you would like to provide your source of random numbers you can do so and generate random integers in range with IntStream.generate() like here: 

List<Integer> streamRandomRange(int limit, int from, int to) {
    // use your source of entrophy here:
    Random rand = new Random();
    int bound = to - from;
    return IntStream.generate(() -> rand.nextInt(bound)+from)
            .limit(limit)
            .boxed()
            .collect(toList());
}

Sample execution of streamRandomRange(limit, 80, 90): 

[82, 80, 85, 88, 89, 87, 85, 88, 82, 83]

References:

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