rand_bytes {openssl}

Generate random bytes and numbers with OpenSSL

Description

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

Usage

rand_bytes(n = 1)

rand_num(n = 1)

Arguments

n

number of random bytes or numbers to generate

References

OpenSSL manual: https://www.openssl.org/docs/man1.1.1/man3/RAND_bytes.html

Examples

rnd <- rand_bytes(10)
as.numeric(rnd)
as.character(rnd)
as.logical(rawToBits(rnd))

# 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)

# 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)