Generate random string/characters in JavaScript

Question

I want a 5 character string composed of characters picked randomly from the set [a-zA-Z0-9].

What\'s the best way to do this with JavaScript?

Answer 1

Fast and improved algorithm. Does not guarantee uniform (see comments).

function getRandomId(length) {
    if (!length) {
        return '';
    }

    const possible =
        'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789';
    let array;

    if ('Uint8Array' in self && 'crypto' in self && length <= 65536) {
        array = new Uint8Array(length);
        self.crypto.getRandomValues(array);
    } else {
        array = new Array(length);

        for (let i = 0; i < length; i++) {
            array[i] = Math.floor(Math.random() * 62);
        }
    }

    let result = '';

    for (let i = 0; i < length; i++) {
        result += possible.charAt(array[i] % 62);
    }

    return result;
}