Generate random bytes and numbers with OpenSSL

this set of functions generates random bytes or numbers from OpenSSL. This provides a cryptographically secure alternative to R's default random number generator. rand_bytes generates n random cryptographically secure bytes

rand_bytes(n = 1)

rand_num(n = 1)

Arguments

n

number of random bytes or numbers to generate

References

OpenSSL manual: https://docs.openssl.org/1.1.1/man3/RAND_bytes/

Examples

rnd <- rand_bytes(10)
as.numeric(rnd)
#>  [1]  25  40 244 146  81 244 134  33 134  13
as.character(rnd)
#>  [1] "19" "28" "f4" "92" "51" "f4" "86" "21" "86" "0d"
as.logical(rawToBits(rnd))
#>  [1]  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE
#> [13] FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE
#> [25] FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#> [37]  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE
#> [49] FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#> [61] FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE
#> [73]  TRUE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE

# bytes range from 0 to 255
rnd <- rand_bytes(100000)
hist(as.numeric(rnd), breaks=-1:255)


# Generate random doubles between 0 and 1
rand_num(5)
#> [1] 0.2742019 0.4605483 0.1639707 0.1987847 0.2633428

# Use CDF to map [0,1] into random draws from a distribution
x <- qnorm(rand_num(1000), mean=100, sd=15)
hist(x)


y <- qbinom(rand_num(1000), size=10, prob=0.3)
hist(y)