Create a random string in Bash easily. You can use this Bash function in your .bashrc file to generate a random alphanumeric string. This comes in handy when you need to generate a long, secure password for example. Adjust to your needs.
# Generate a random 32 character alphanumeric string (upper
# and lowercase) and numbers in Bash
random-string() {
cat /dev/urandom | tr -dc 'a-zA-Z0-9' | fold -w ${1:-32} | head -n 1
}Code language: Bash (bash)An example usage and output is
Code language: Bash (bash)$ random-string 2fORqF7pau7bLafFuJbQNzK2D8yOLMnO
If needed you can add special characters to the tr command:
tr -dc '(\&\_a-zA-Z0-9\^\*\@'Code language: Bash (bash)This’ll generate a more secure random string, like:
Code language: Bash (bash)$ random-string w4LD528^K52@rrYx@vfEg1wKwRSMQXoP $ random-string BnhUn_ScM&sIs(Yn0d40PxJKUQN0QkHg $ random-string cFg3FRPHB6SXcQ(f8wGr7y1RKSR1i^&i
An example that works on all POSIX systems even Oracle Solaris and IBM AIX. It provides 32 random characters (ie a DWORD byte, or 32 bits), read 8 times):
tr -dc '[:alnum:]' < /dev/urandom | dd bs=4 count=8 2>/dev/nullCode language: Bash (bash)This is kindly taken from ghost’s comment in earthgecko’s gist bash.generate.random.alphanumeric.string.sh. And denzuko writes:
would be nice if everyone would stop catting all over themselves as the
< filenameparameter does the same thing.Here’s an example that works on all POSIX systems even Sun unix and AIX and is always going to get 32 characters (ie a DWORD byte read 8 times):
tr -dc '[:alnum:]' < /dev/urandom | dd bs=4 count=8 2>/dev/null
These random strings generated in Bash make ideal passwords.
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