YouTube-like GUID

Question

Is it possible to generate short GUID like in YouTube (N7Et6c9nL9w)?

How can it be done? I want to use it in web app.

Answer 1

As mentioned in the accepted answer, it can cause problems if you're using the GUID in the URL. Here is a more complete answer:

    public string ToShortString(Guid guid)
    {
        var base64Guid = Convert.ToBase64String(guid.ToByteArray());

        // Replace URL unfriendly characters with better ones
        base64Guid = base64Guid.Replace('+', '-').Replace('/', '_');

        // Remove the trailing ==
        return base64Guid.Substring(0, base64Guid.Length - 2);
    }

    public Guid FromShortString(string str)
    {
        str = str.Replace('_', '/').Replace('-', '+');
        var byteArray = Convert.FromBase64String(str + "==");
        return new Guid(byteArray);
    }

Usage:

        var guid = Guid.NewGuid();
        var shortStr = ToShortString(guid);
        // shortStr will look something like 2LP8GcHr-EC4D__QTizUWw
        var guid2 = FromShortString(shortStr);
        Assert.AreEqual(guid, guid2);