How can I generate random alphanumeric strings?

Question

How can I generate a random 8 character alphanumeric string in C#?

Answer 1

Just some performance comparisons of the various answers in this thread:

Methods & Setup

// what's available
public static string possibleChars = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";
// optimized (?) what's available
public static char[] possibleCharsArray = possibleChars.ToCharArray();
// optimized (precalculated) count
public static int possibleCharsAvailable = possibleChars.Length;
// shared randomization thingy
public static Random random = new Random();


// http://stackoverflow.com/a/1344242/1037948
public string LinqIsTheNewBlack(int num) {
    return new string(
    Enumerable.Repeat(possibleCharsArray, num)
              .Select(s => s[random.Next(s.Length)])
              .ToArray());
}

// http://stackoverflow.com/a/1344258/1037948
public string ForLoop(int num) {
    var result = new char[num];
    while(num-- > 0) {
        result[num] = possibleCharsArray[random.Next(possibleCharsAvailable)];
    }
    return new string(result);
}

public string ForLoopNonOptimized(int num) {
    var result = new char[num];
    while(num-- > 0) {
        result[num] = possibleChars[random.Next(possibleChars.Length)];
    }
    return new string(result);
}

public string Repeat(int num) {
    return new string(new char[num].Select(o => possibleCharsArray[random.Next(possibleCharsAvailable)]).ToArray());
}

// http://stackoverflow.com/a/1518495/1037948
public string GenerateRandomString(int num) {
  var rBytes = new byte[num];
  random.NextBytes(rBytes);
  var rName = new char[num];
  while(num-- > 0)
    rName[num] = possibleCharsArray[rBytes[num] % possibleCharsAvailable];
  return new string(rName);
}

//SecureFastRandom - or SolidSwiftRandom
static string GenerateRandomString(int Length) //Configurable output string length
{
    byte[] rBytes = new byte[Length]; 
    char[] rName = new char[Length];
    SolidSwiftRandom.GetNextBytesWithMax(rBytes, biasZone);
    for (var i = 0; i < Length; i++)
    {
        rName[i] = charSet[rBytes[i] % charSet.Length];
    }
    return new string(rName);
}

Results

Tested in LinqPad. For string size of 10, generates:

• from Linq = chdgmevhcy [10]
• from Loop = gtnoaryhxr [10]
• from Select = rsndbztyby [10]
• from GenerateRandomString = owyefjjakj [10]
• from SecureFastRandom = VzougLYHYP [10]
• from SecureFastRandom-NoCache = oVQXNGmO1S [10]

And the performance numbers tend to vary slightly, very occasionally NonOptimized is actually faster, and sometimes ForLoop and GenerateRandomString switch who's in the lead.

• LinqIsTheNewBlack (10000x) = 96762 ticks elapsed (9.6762 ms)
• ForLoop (10000x) = 28970 ticks elapsed (2.897 ms)
• ForLoopNonOptimized (10000x) = 33336 ticks elapsed (3.3336 ms)
• Repeat (10000x) = 78547 ticks elapsed (7.8547 ms)
• GenerateRandomString (10000x) = 27416 ticks elapsed (2.7416 ms)
• SecureFastRandom (10000x) = 13176 ticks elapsed (5ms) lowest [Different machine]
• SecureFastRandom-NoCache (10000x) = 39541 ticks elapsed (17ms) lowest [Different machine]