Python includes a lot of functions by default, like print
and
input
. That’s because these functions are used very often. But if we
need a function that isn’t included by default, there are ways to add
it to our program.
A module is a collection of code that we can add to our program. There’s a
module called random
that includes a function that generates random numbers:
import random
print(random.randint(1, 5))
print(random.randint(1, 5))
print(random.randint(1, 5))
4
1
5
First we use the import
keyword to add the random
module to our program. We
can access random
’s functions by putting a dot after it. Then we type the
function name and any arguments that the function needs. The random.randint
function takes two integers and then returns a random integer within the range
of the two arguments.
We can store the random number in a variable and then do other things with it:
your_lottery_number = 7
winning_lottery_number = random.randint(1, 1000000)
if your_lottery_number == winning_lottery_number:
print("Here's a dollar; buy yourself something nice")
else:
print("Too bad for you; the winning number was", winning_lottery_number)
Too bad for you; the winning number was 492054