Generate random 5 characters string

Question

I want to create exact 5 random characters string with least possibility of getting duplicated. What would be the best way to do it? Thanks.

Answer 1

$rand = substr(md5(microtime()),rand(0,26),5);

Would be my best guess--Unless you're looking for special characters, too:

$seed = str_split('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'
                 .'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'
                 .'0123456789!@#$%^&*()'); // and any other characters
shuffle($seed); // probably optional since array_is randomized; this may be redundant
$rand = '';
foreach (array_rand($seed, 5) as $k) $rand .= $seed[$k];

Example

And, for one based on the clock (fewer collisions since it's incremental):

function incrementalHash($len = 5){
  $charset = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";
  $base = strlen($charset);
  $result = '';

  $now = explode(' ', microtime())[1];
  while ($now >= $base){
    $i = $now % $base;
    $result = $charset[$i] . $result;
    $now /= $base;
  }
  return substr($result, -5);
}

Note: incremental means easier to guess; If you're using this as a salt or a verification token, don't. A salt (now) of "WCWyb" means 5 seconds from now it's "WCWyg")

Answer 2

If for loops are on short supply, here's what I like to use:

$s = substr(str_shuffle(str_repeat("0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz", 5)), 0, 5);

Answer 3

You can try it simply like this:

$length = 5;

$randomletter = substr(str_shuffle("abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"), 0, $length);

more details: http://forum.arnlweb.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=25

Answer 4

A speedy way is to use the most volatile characters of the uniqid function.

For example:

$rand = substr(uniqid('', true), -5);

Answer 5

The following should provide the least chance of duplication (you might want to replace mt_rand() with a better random number source e.g. from /dev/*random or from GUIDs):

<?php
    $characters = '0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz';
    $result = '';
    for ($i = 0; $i < 5; $i++)
        $result .= $characters[mt_rand(0, 61)];
?>

EDIT:
If you are concerned about security, really, do not use rand() or mt_rand(), and verify that your random data device is actually a device generating random data, not a regular file or something predictable like /dev/zero. mt_rand() considered harmful:
https://spideroak.com/blog/20121205114003-exploit-information-leaks-in-random-numbers-from-python-ruby-and-php

EDIT: If you have OpenSSL support in PHP, you could use openssl_random_pseudo_bytes():

<?php
    $length = 5;
    $randomBytes = openssl_random_pseudo_bytes($length);
    $characters = '0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz';
    $charactersLength = strlen($characters);
    $result = '';
    for ($i = 0; $i < $length; $i++)
        $result .= $characters[ord($randomBytes[$i]) % $charactersLength];
?>

Answer 6

It seems like str_shuffle would be a good use for this. Seed the shuffle with whichever characters you want.

$my_rand_strng = substr(str_shuffle("ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"), -5);

Answer 7

I always use the same function for this, usually to generate passwords. It's easy to use and useful.

function randPass($length, $strength=8) {
    $vowels = 'aeuy';
    $consonants = 'bdghjmnpqrstvz';
    if ($strength >= 1) {
        $consonants .= 'BDGHJLMNPQRSTVWXZ';
    }
    if ($strength >= 2) {
        $vowels .= "AEUY";
    }
    if ($strength >= 4) {
        $consonants .= '23456789';
    }
    if ($strength >= 8) {
        $consonants .= '@#$%';
    }

    $password = '';
    $alt = time() % 2;
    for ($i = 0; $i < $length; $i++) {
        if ($alt == 1) {
            $password .= $consonants[(rand() % strlen($consonants))];
            $alt = 0;
        } else {
            $password .= $vowels[(rand() % strlen($vowels))];
            $alt = 1;
        }
    }
    return $password;
}

Answer 8

I also did not know how to do this until I thought of using PHP array's. And I am pretty sure this is the simplest way of generating a random string or number with array's. The code:

function randstr ($len=10, $abc="aAbBcCdDeEfFgGhHiIjJkKlLmMnNoOpPqQrRsStTuUvVwWxXyYzZ0123456789") {
    $letters = str_split($abc);
    $str = "";
    for ($i=0; $i<=$len; $i++) {
        $str .= $letters[rand(0, count($letters)-1)];
    };
    return $str;
};

You can use this function like this

randstr(20)     // returns a random 20 letter string
                // Or like this
randstr(5, abc) // returns a random 5 letter string using the letters "abc"

Answer 9

$str = '';
$str_len = 8;
for($i = 0, $i < $str_len; $i++){
    //97 is ascii code for 'a' and 122 is ascii code for z
    $str .= chr(rand(97, 122));
}
return $str

Answer 10

If it's fine that you'll get only letters A-F, then here's my solution:

str_pad(dechex(mt_rand(0, 0xFFFFF)), 5, '0', STR_PAD_LEFT);

I believe that using hash functions is an overkill for such a simple task as generating a sequence of random hexadecimal digits. dechex + mt_rand will do the same job, but without unnecessary cryptographic work. str_pad guarantees 5-character length of the output string (if the random number is less than 0x10000).

Duplicate probability depends on mt_rand's reliability. Mersenne Twister is known for high-quality randomness, so it should fit the task well.

Answer 11

Similar to Brad Christie's answer, but using sha1 alrorithm for characters 0-9a-zA-Z and prefixed with a random value :

$str = substr(sha1(mt_rand() . microtime()), mt_rand(0,35), 5);

But if you have set a defined (allowed) characters :

$validChars = array('0','1','2' /*...*/,'?','-','_','a','b','c' /*...*/);
$validCharsCount = count($validChars);

$str = '';
for ($i=0; $i<5; $i++) {
    $str .= $validChars[rand(0,$validCharsCount - 1)];
}

** UPDATE **

As Archimedix pointed out, this will not guarantee to return a "least possibility of getting duplicated" as the number of combination is low for the given character range. You will either need to increase the number of characters, or allow extra (special) characters in the string. The first solution would be preferable, I think, in your case.

Answer 12

works fine in PHP (php 5.4.4)

$seed = str_split('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz');
$rand = array_rand($seed, 5);
$convert = array_map(function($n){
    global $seed;
    return $seed[$n];
},$rand);

$var = implode('',$convert);
echo $var;

Live Demo

Answer 13

Source: PHP Function that Generates Random Characters

This simple PHP function worked for me:

function cvf_ps_generate_random_code($length=10) {

   $string = '';
   // You can define your own characters here.
   $characters = "23456789ABCDEFHJKLMNPRTVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";

   for ($p = 0; $p < $length; $p++) {
       $string .= $characters[mt_rand(0, strlen($characters)-1)];
   }

   return $string;

}

Usage:

echo cvf_ps_generate_random_code(5);

Answer 14

Here are my random 5 cents ...

$random=function($a, $b) {
    return(
        substr(str_shuffle(('\\`)/|@'.
        password_hash(mt_rand(0,999999),
        PASSWORD_DEFAULT).'!*^&~(')),
        $a, $b)
    );
};

echo($random(0,5));

PHP's new password_hash() (* >= PHP 5.5) function is doing the job for generation of decently long set of uppercase and lowercase characters and numbers.

Two concat. strings before and after password_hash within $random function are suitable for change.

Paramteres for $random() *($a,$b) are actually substr() parameters. :)

NOTE: this doesn't need to be a function, it can be normal variable as well .. as one nasty singleliner, like this:

$random=(substr(str_shuffle(('\\`)/|@'.password_hash(mt_rand(0,999999), PASSWORD_DEFAULT).'!*^&~(')), 0, 5));

echo($random);

Answer 15

function CaracteresAleatorios( $Tamanno, $Opciones) {
    $Opciones = empty($Opciones) ? array(0, 1, 2) : $Opciones;
    $Tamanno = empty($Tamanno) ? 16 : $Tamanno;
    $Caracteres=array("0123456789","abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz","ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ");
    $Caracteres= implode("",array_intersect_key($Caracteres, array_flip($Opciones)));
    $CantidadCaracteres=strlen($Caracteres)-1;
    $CaracteresAleatorios='';
    for ($k = 0; $k < $Tamanno; $k++) {
        $CaracteresAleatorios.=$Caracteres[rand(0, $CantidadCaracteres)];
    }
    return $CaracteresAleatorios;
}

Answer 16

I`ve aways use this:

<?php function fRand($len) {
    $str = '';
    $a = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789";
    $b = str_split($a);
    for ($i=1; $i <= $len ; $i++) { 
        $str .= $b[rand(0,strlen($a)-1)];
    }
    return $str;
} ?>

When you call it, sets the lenght of string.

<?php echo fRand([LENGHT]); ?>

You can also change the possible characters in the string $a.

Answer 17

Simple one liner which includes special characters:

echo implode("", array_map(function() {return chr(mt_rand(33,126));}, array_fill(0,5,null)));

Basically, it fills an array with length 5 with null values and replaces each value with a random symbol from the ascii-range and as the last, it joins them together t a string.

Use the 2nd array_fill parameter to control the length.

It uses the ASCII Table range of 33 to 126 which includes the following characters:

!"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~