Random Integers

[Anon]

I'm trying to generate some regular integers and then insert them into a variable using eregi_replace.

mt_srand(time());
$random_number = mt_rand(1, 1000000);
$contents = eregi_replace("[% randomizer %]",$random_number,$contents);

The above code gives me gibberish characters wherever there's a [% randomizer %] in the $contents variable. The $random_number variable itself shows the random number correctly, though.

[Anon]

Sorry, I meant "random integers," not "regular integers."

[[deleted]]

1. your seed only changes once every second.
2. Your regular expression did not escape all the * and [] characters
3. if you tell eregi_replace to replace a string by a number, it interprets the number as an ASCII code. Try replacing something by 65, and it will put an 'A'. To prevent that, put double quotes around the number-variable. That way PHP will interpret the var and use the string representation of the value.

mt_srand ((float) microtime() * 1000000);
$random_number = mt_rand(1, 1000000);
$contents = eregi_replace("[% *randomizer* %]", "$random_number", $contents);