php random x digit number

Question

I need to create a random number with x amount of digits.

So lets say x is 5, I need a number to be eg. 35562 If x is 3, then it would throw back something like; 463

Could someone show me how this is done?

Answer 1

You can use rand() together with pow() to make this happen:

$digits = 3;
echo rand(pow(10, $digits-1), pow(10, $digits)-1);

This will output a number between 100 and 999. This because 10^2 = 100 and 10^3 = 1000 and then you need to subtract it with one to get it in the desired range.

If 005 also is a valid example you'd use the following code to pad it with leading zeros:

$digits = 3;
echo str_pad(rand(0, pow(10, $digits)-1), $digits, '0', STR_PAD_LEFT);