add an option to skip timestamps every now and then.

randomizr.go

@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ var (
 	ftruncate  bool          // whether or not to truncate file on open
 	pidfile    string        // path of pidfile to write out
 	reopen     bool          // whether or not to reopen the file handle on every line write
+	nots       float64       // odds of generating a line without a timestamp. Should be between 0 and 1.
 	tsformat   string        // timestamp format
 	lineLength lengthArg     // length of the lines to be generated
 	ts         func() string // function to get a timestamp string
@@ -298,7 +299,23 @@ func flags() (err error) {
 	if dictionary != "" {
 		readDict(dictionary)
 	}
-	ts = mkTsFn()
+	tmp := mkTsFn()
+	tsLen := len(tmp())
+	blank := make([]byte, tsLen)
+	for i := range blank {
+		blank[i] = ' '
+	}
+	whitespace := string(blank)
+	if nots > 0 {
+		ts = func() string {
+			if rand.Float64() < nots {
+				return whitespace
+			}
+			return tmp()
+		}
+	} else {
+		ts = tmp
+	}
 	line, err = lineLength.mkLineFn()
 	return
 }
@@ -321,6 +338,7 @@ func main() {
 func init() {
 	flag.StringVar(&fname, "file", "", "destination file to which random data will be written")
 	flag.StringVar(&tsformat, "ts-format", "", "timestamp format")
+	flag.Float64Var(&nots, "no-ts", 0.0, "odds of generating a line without a timestamp")
 	flag.StringVar(&pidfile, "pidfile", "", "file to which a pid is written")
 	flag.BoolVar(&ftruncate, "truncate", false, "truncate file on opening instead of appending")
 	flag.StringVar(&dictionary, "dict", "", "dictionary of words to use for generating log data")