#!/usr/bin/ksh -f
# Quick First Ver
# (i.e. I know its poorly put together)

if [ "$1" = "" ]; then
 # bad usage
 printf "Usage: rand [ file | items ]\n" 1>&2
 exit 1
elif [ "$1" = "-n" ]; then
 # give the line number
 if [ ! -r $2 ]; then
  echo "Error: Can't open $2" 1>&2
  exit 2
 fi
 wc -l $2 | awk '{ srand(); printf("%d\n", rand()*$1 + 1)  }'
elif [ "$2" != "" ]; then
 # just pick a random parameter
 echo $@ | awk '{ srand(); pos = sprintf("%d\n", rand()*NF + 1); print $pos }'
elif [ -r $1 ]; then
 # pick a random line from the file
 line=`wc -l $1 | awk '{ srand(); printf("%d\n", rand()*$1 + 1)  }'`
 tail +$line $1 | head -1
else
 # nothing random about it
 echo "Error: Can't open '$1'" 1>&2
 exit 2 
fi

# EXIT STATUS
# 0 - success
# 1 - bad usage
# 2 - can't open file