RE: Pulling Random Records from a file

Not sure if the following will help?  
pass the number of record in the file to the maxRandomNum.

PgetRandom        B                                              
D GetRandom       pi            15  5                            
D maxRandomNum                  15  5 const                      
 *                                                               
D RandNum         s             15  5                            
D RandFloat8      s              8f   inz                        
D RandInt4        s             10i 0 inz static                 
D RandAlpha8      s              8a   inz                        
 *                                                               
C                   callb(d)  'CEERAN0'                          
C                   parm                    RandInt4             
C                   parm                    RandFloat8           
C                   parm                    RandAlpha8           
C                   eval      RandNum=(maxRandomNum * RandFloat8)
 *                                                               
C                   return    RandNum                            
PGetRandom        E                 
                             

-----Original Message-----
Hans Boldt wrote:

First, get the number of records in the file. After the file is opened, 
the number is in position 156-159 in the INFDS.

Next, use your favorite method to compute random numbers (such as the C 
runtime library function "rand()"), and convert them to the range 
computed in the first step. Compute as many as you need, checking for 
duplicates.

Finally, read the records by relative record number.