Reproducible random numbers Seed and State

Setting a specific Seed will create a fixed random-number series:

random.seed(5)                 # Create a fixed state         
print(random.randrange(0, 10))  # Get a random integer between 0 and 9
# Out: 9
print(random.randrange(0, 10))
# Out: 4

Resetting the seed will create the same “random” sequence again:

random.seed(5)                 # Reset the random module to the same fixed state.
print(random.randrange(0, 10))
# Out: 9
print(random.randrange(0, 10))
# Out: 4

Since the seed is fixed these results are always 9 and 4. If having specific numbers is not required only that the values will be the same one can also just use getstate and setstate to recover to a previous state:

save_state = random.getstate()  # Get the current state
print(random.randrange(0, 10))
# Out: 5
print(random.randrange(0, 10))
# Out: 8

random.setstate(save_state)     # Reset to saved state
print(random.randrange(0, 10))
# Out: 5
print(random.randrange(0, 10))
# Out: 8

To pseudo-randomize the sequence again you seed with None:

random.seed(None)

Or call the seed method with no arguments:

random.seed()

Found a mistake? Have a question or improvement idea? Let me know.

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