What is the seed(x) function in Python 3?

[csquare121]

Can someone very simply explain what the purpose and function of the seed(x) function are in Python 3?

I am trying to figure out what the random.seed(0) line is supposed to do in this code. I understand every other line except for that one.

# random module is imported 
import random  
for i in range(5): 
  
    # Any number can be used in place of '0'. 
    random.seed(0) 
  
    # Generated random number will be between 1 to 1000. 
    print(random.randint(1, 1000))

[JeremyLT]

From the documentation:

random. seed ( a=None , version=2 )

Initialize the random number generator.

If a is omitted or None , the current system time is used. If randomness sources are provided by the operating system, they are used instead of the system time (see the os.urandom() function for details on availability).

If a is an int, it is used directly.

With version 2 (the default), a str , bytes , or bytearray object gets converted to an int and all of its bits are used.

With version 1 (provided for reproducing random sequences from older versions of Python), the algorithm for str and bytes generates a narrower range of seeds.

Changed in version 3.2: Moved to the version 2 scheme which uses all of the bits in a string seed.

How familiar are you with pesudo-random number generation? All pesudo-random number generators need some sort of seed value to start the calculation of a pesudo-random number.

[anon10857827]

Hi!

Try to run the code with seed() and without it and you will see the difference!

Examples:
seed(0): (same random numbers).
865
865
865
865
865

Without seed(): (different random numbers).
378
988
308
672
171