how to generate and append a random string using jquery

Question

Generalities

I\'d like to append a random string to an element\'s attribute, using either jQuery or javascript.

Specifics

I need to reference a CSS f

Answer 1

Adding a random string is called a cache-buster. You shouldn't do it on every page load as it completely defeats the purpose of cache.

To answer how to accomplish it with a random string, you can try this:

$('').attr({
                   type: 'text/css',
                   rel: 'stylesheet',
                   href: 'http://example.com/style.css?' + randString(4)
}).appendTo('head');

Here's a simple random string generator function:

/**
 * Function generates a random string for use in unique IDs, etc
 *
 * @param  n - The length of the string
 */
function randString(n)
{
    if(!n)
    {
        n = 5;
    }

    var text = '';
    var possible = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789';

    for(var i=0; i < n; i++)
    {
        text += possible.charAt(Math.floor(Math.random() * possible.length));
    }

    return text;
}