<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- $Revision$ -->

<refentry xml:id="function.random-bytes" xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
 <refnamediv>
  <refname>random_bytes</refname>
  <refpurpose>Generates cryptographically secure pseudo-random bytes</refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>

 <refsect1 role="description"><!-- {{{ -->
  &reftitle.description;
  <methodsynopsis role="procedural">
   <type>string</type><methodname>random_bytes</methodname>
   <methodparam><type>int</type><parameter>length</parameter></methodparam>
  </methodsynopsis>
  <para>
   Generates an arbitrary length string of cryptographic random bytes that are
   suitable for cryptographic use, such as when generating salts, keys or
   initialization vectors.
  </para>
  &csprng.sources;
  &csprng.function.backport;
 </refsect1><!-- }}} -->

 <refsect1 role="parameters"><!-- {{{ -->
  &reftitle.parameters;
  <variablelist>
   <varlistentry>
    <term><parameter>length</parameter></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      The length of the random string that should be returned in bytes.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
  </variablelist>
 </refsect1><!-- }}} -->

 <refsect1 role="returnvalues"><!-- {{{ -->
  &reftitle.returnvalues;
  <para>
   Returns a string containing the requested number of cryptographically
   secure random bytes.
  </para>
 </refsect1><!-- }}} -->

 <refsect1 role="errors"><!-- {{{ -->
  &reftitle.errors;
  <itemizedlist>
   &csprng.errors;
   <listitem>
    <simpara>
     If an invalid <parameter>length</parameter> of bytes is given, an
     <classname>Error</classname> will be thrown.
    </simpara>
   </listitem>
  </itemizedlist>
 </refsect1><!-- }}} -->

 <refsect1 role="examples"><!-- {{{ -->
  &reftitle.examples;
  <example xml:id="random-bytes.example.basic"><!-- {{{ -->
   <title><function>random_bytes</function> example</title>
   <programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
$bytes = random_bytes(5);
var_dump(bin2hex($bytes));
?>
]]>
   </programlisting>
   &example.outputs.similar;
   <screen>
<![CDATA[
string(10) "385e33f741"
]]>
   </screen>
  </example><!-- }}} -->
 </refsect1><!-- }}} -->

 <refsect1 role="seealso"><!-- {{{ -->
  &reftitle.seealso;
  <simplelist>
   <member><function>random_int</function></member>
   <member><function>openssl_random_pseudo_bytes</function></member>
   <member><function>bin2hex</function></member>
  </simplelist>
 </refsect1><!-- }}} -->

</refentry>

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