Error with rand function C++ [closed] - c++

Question

Closed. This question does not meet Stack Overflow guidelines. It is not currently accepting answers.
Questions asking for code must demonstrate a minimal understanding of the problem being solved. Include attempted solutions, why they didn't work, and the expected results. See also: Stack Overflow question checklist
Closed 9 years ago.
Improve this question
I have a hangman program, but I'm having issues with randomly choosing a word out of the list...
I get the errors:
-error C2661: 'rand' : no overloaded function takes 1 arguments
-IntelliSense: too many arguments in function call
They are both referring to the rand function noted in the code where I'm trying to randomly choose a word out of the array so the user can guess.
// Hang.cpp : Defines the entry point for the console application.
#include "stdafx.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <conio.h>
using namespace std;
const int MAXLENGTH=80;
const int MAX_TRIES=5;
const int MAXROW=7;
int letterFill (char, char[], char[]);
void initUnknown (char[], char[]);
int main ()
{
char unknown [MAXLENGTH];
char letter;
int num_of_wrong_guesses=0;
char word[MAXLENGTH];
char words[][MAXLENGTH] =
{
"india",
"america",
"germany",
"china",
"canada"
};
//THIS IS WHERE THE ISSUE IS OCCURRING vvvvvvv
//choose and copy a word from array of words randomly
rand();
int n=rand(5);
strcpy(word,words[n]);
// Initialize the secret word with the * character.
initUnknown(word, unknown);
// welcome the user
cout << "\n\nWelcome to Hangman!";
cout << "\n\nYou have " << MAX_TRIES << " tries to try and guess the word.";
cout << "\n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~";
// Loop until the guesses are used up
while (num_of_wrong_guesses < MAX_TRIES)
{
cout << "\n\n" << unknown;
cout << "\n\nGuess a letter: ";
cin >> letter;
// Fill secret word with letter if the guess is correct,
// otherwise increment the number of wrong guesses.
if (letterFill(letter, word, unknown)==0)
{
cout << endl << "Sorry, that letter was wrong." << endl;
num_of_wrong_guesses++;
}
else
{
cout << endl << "You found a letter!" << endl;
}
// Tell user how many guesses has left.
cout << "You have " << MAX_TRIES - num_of_wrong_guesses;
cout << " guesses left." << endl;
// Check if they guessed the word.
if (strcmp(word, unknown) == 0)
{
cout << word << endl;
cout << "You guessed it!";
break;
}
}
if(num_of_wrong_guesses == MAX_TRIES)
{
cout << "\nSorry, you lose...you've been hanged." << endl;
cout << "The word was : " << word << endl;
}
getch();
return 0;
}
/* Take a one character guess and the secret word, and fill in the
unfinished guessword. Returns number of characters matched.
Also, returns zero if the character is already guessed. */
int letterFill (char guess, char secretword[], char guessword[])
{
int i;
int matches=0;
for (i = 0; secretword[i]!='\0'; i++)
{
// Did we already match this letter in a previous guess?
if (guess == guessword[i])
return 0;
// Is the guess in the secret word?
if (guess == secretword[i])
{
guessword[i] = guess;
matches++;
}
}
return matches;
}
// Initialize the unknown word
void initUnknown (char word[], char unknown[])
{
int i;
int length = strlen(word);
for (i = 0; i < length; i++)
unknown[i]='*';
unknown[i]='\0';
}
// end

Answer 1

rand takes no argument
You probably want :
int n=rand() % 5;

Answer 2

std::rand() generates a pseudo random number, if you want a number 0, 1, 2 3 or 4, which i guess you are trying to do use the following:
int n = rand()%5;
This generates a random number and then the % gives the rest value if you would divide by 5. If the random number is 12, you can 'put two fives in it', and the rest value will be 2.
One thing to note is that in C++ using rand() is generally a bad idea, because it will not give you a truly random number, and using % makes it worse, but I think you will be fine since this is just a small program.
Watch this talk if you want to know how to properly generate a random number in c++