Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@earthgecko
Last active October 16, 2024 20:10
Show Gist options
  • Save earthgecko/3089509 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save earthgecko/3089509 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
shell/bash generate random alphanumeric string
#!/bin/bash
# bash generate random alphanumeric string
#
# bash generate random 32 character alphanumeric string (upper and lowercase) and
NEW_UUID=$(cat /dev/urandom | tr -dc 'a-zA-Z0-9' | fold -w 32 | head -n 1)
# bash generate random 32 character alphanumeric string (lowercase only)
cat /dev/urandom | tr -dc 'a-z0-9' | fold -w 32 | head -n 1
# Random numbers in a range, more randomly distributed than $RANDOM which is not
# very random in terms of distribution of numbers.
# bash generate random number between 0 and 9
cat /dev/urandom | tr -dc '0-9' | fold -w 256 | head -n 1 | head --bytes 1
# bash generate random number between 0 and 99
NUMBER=$(cat /dev/urandom | tr -dc '0-9' | fold -w 256 | head -n 1 | sed -e 's/^0*//' | head --bytes 2)
if [ "$NUMBER" == "" ]; then
NUMBER=0
fi
# bash generate random number between 0 and 999
NUMBER=$(cat /dev/urandom | tr -dc '0-9' | fold -w 256 | head -n 1 | sed -e 's/^0*//' | head --bytes 3)
if [ "$NUMBER" == "" ]; then
NUMBER=0
fi
@pier4r
Copy link

pier4r commented Jan 12, 2022

@invisible999 don't know, one needs to make a benchmark with the various proposed methods (and likely others published elsewhere)

@dagreatpyro22
Copy link

how do i generate the string cat /dev/urandom | tr -dc 'a-zA-Z0-9' | fold -w 32 | head -n 1 but have the first half as dedicated set characters

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment