diff --git a/Lib/random.py b/Lib/random.py
index 7db761034509d37..7cf18ceee5482d4 100644
--- a/Lib/random.py
+++ b/Lib/random.py
@@ -1067,15 +1067,17 @@ def main(arg_list: list[str] | None = None) -> int | str:
         try:
             # Is it an integer?
             val = int(val)
-            return randint(1, val)
         except ValueError:
             try:
                 # Is it a float?
                 val = float(val)
-                return uniform(0, val)
             except ValueError:
                 # Split in case of space-separated string: "a b c"
                 return choice(val.split())
+            else:
+                return uniform(0, val)
+        else:
+            return randint(1, val)
 
     if len(args.input) >= 2:
         return choice(args.input)
@@ -1084,4 +1086,8 @@ def main(arg_list: list[str] | None = None) -> int | str:
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    print(main())
+    import sys
+    try:
+        print(main())
+    except ValueError as exc:
+        sys.exit(f"error: {exc}")
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_random.py b/Lib/test/test_random.py
index 8d093ab1b7014a4..5fb24b380df7514 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_random.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_random.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 from collections import abc, Counter
 
 from test.support import warnings_helper
+from test.support.script_helper import assert_python_failure
 
 
 class MyIndex:
@@ -1482,6 +1483,18 @@ def test_main(self):
             random.seed(0)
             self.assertEqual(random.main(shlex.split(command)), expected)
 
+    def test_empty_integer_range_error(self):
+        # An integer input is the same as --integer, even when it is
+        # not positive.
+        for value in ["0", "-5"]:
+            for args in [(value,), ("--integer", value)]:
+                with self.subTest(args=args):
+                    rc, out, err = assert_python_failure("-m", "random", *args)
+                    self.assertEqual(rc, 1)
+                    self.assertEqual(out, b"")
+                    expected = f"error: empty range in randint(1, {value})"
+                    self.assertEqual(err.decode().rstrip(), expected)
+
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-11-05-22-26-44.gh-issue-161452.YfFfjq.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-11-05-22-26-44.gh-issue-161452.YfFfjq.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000000..f8b9e245e6f4413
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-11-05-22-26-44.gh-issue-161452.YfFfjq.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Fix the :mod:`random` :ref:`command-line interface <random-cli>`
+printing a random float for a zero or negative integer input instead of
+failing like ``--integer`` does. Both now report a short error message
+instead of a traceback.