#! /bin/zsh
#
# By Peter Stephenson @ gmane.comp.shells.zsh.user:
#
#   Generate a 48-bit pseudo-random number as
#   a floating point value between 0 and 1 in $REPLY.
#
#   This version is slow but works around the fact that
#   the random number seed doesn't propagate back from
#   a subshell by storing the seed in a file.
#
#   You can specify a file name, else
#   ${ZDOTDIR:-~}/.zsh-rand48-seed is used, but if
#   using the default be careful about simultaneous
#   accesses from multiple shells."

zmodload zsh/mathfunc

rand48 () {
    local file=${1:-${ZDOTDIR:-~}/.zsh-rand48-seed}

    local seed
    [[ -f $file ]] && seed=$(< $file)

    typeset -g REPLY=$(( rand48(seed) ))

    print $seed > $file

    echo $seed
}
alias random-string=rand48