Interleave random numbers - random

Question

I would like to interleave a random number with some alphanumeric characters, for example: HELLO mixed with the random number 25635 → H2E5L6L3O5. I know %1d controls the spacing, although I'm not sure how to interleave text between the random numbers or how accomplish this.
Code:
int main(void) {
int i;
srand(time(NULL));
for (i = 1; i <= 10; i++) {
printf("%1d", 0 + (rand() % 10));
if (i % 5 == 0) {
printf("\n");
}
}
return 0;
}
btw - if my random number generator isn't very good i'm open to suggestions - thanks

Answer 1

If you're okay with using C++11, you could use something like this:
#include <iostream>
#include <random>
#include <string>
int main() {
std::random_device rd;
std::default_random_engine e1(rd());
std::uniform_int_distribution<int> uniform_dist(0, 9);
std::string word = "HELLO";
for (auto ch : word) {
std::cout << ch << uniform_dist(e1);
}
std::cout << '\n';
}
...which produces e.g.:
H3E6L6L1O5
If you're stuck with an older compiler, you could use rand and srand from the standard C library for your random numbers:
#include <iostream>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <ctime>
#include <string>
int main() {
std::srand(std::time(NULL));
std::string word = "HELLO";
for (int i = 0; i < word.size(); ++i) {
std::cout << word[i] << (rand() % 10);
}
std::cout << '\n';
}