Generate Upper and Lowercase Alphanumeric Random String in Oracle

Question

How does one generate an upper and lowercase alphanumeric random string from oracle?

I have used select DBMS_RANDOM.STRING(\'x\', 10) from dual to generate

Answer 1

create or replace procedure r1
    is
    v_1 varchar2(1);
    v_2 varchar2(10);
    begin 
    for inner_c in 1..10
    loop
    select  substr('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789',mod(abs(dbms_random.random), 62)+1, 1) into v_1 from dual;
    v_2 := v_2 || v_1;
    end loop;
    dbms_output.put_line(v_2);
    end;
    /

Answer 2

Try this,

with
  r as (
    select
      level lvl,
      substr(
        'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789',
        mod(abs(dbms_random.random), 62)+1, 1) a
    from dual connect by level <= 10
  )
select
  replace(sys_connect_by_path(a, '/'), '/') random_string
from r
where lvl = 1
start with lvl = 10
connect by lvl + 1 = prior lvl
;

Output,

FOps2k0Pcy

Answer 3

You can make your own function. This is one option:

create or replace function random_str(v_length number) return varchar2 is
    my_str varchar2(4000);
begin
    for i in 1..v_length loop
        my_str := my_str || dbms_random.string(
            case when dbms_random.value(0, 1) < 0.5 then 'l' else 'x' end, 1);
    end loop;
    return my_str;
end;
/

select random_str(30) from dual;

RANDOM_STR(30)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
pAAHjlh49oZ2xuRqVatd0m1Pv8XuGs

You might want to adjust the 0.5 to take into account the different pool sizes - 26 for l vs. 36 for x. (.419354839?). You could also use value() and pass in the start and end range of the character values, but that would be character-set specific.

As to why... do Oracle need a reason? The use of x might suggest that it was originally hexadecimal and was expanded to include all upper-case, without it occurring to them to add a mixed-case version at the same time.

Answer 4

How about this:

select translate(dbms_random.string('a', 20), 'abcXYZ', '158249') from dual;

or, even MORE random ;)

select translate(dbms_random.string('a', 20), dbms_random.string('a',6), trunc(dbms_random.value(100000,999999))) from dual;

Answer 5

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION fn_mac RETURN varchar2 IS
   w number :=0;
   a varchar2(10);
   b varchar2(50);
   x number :=0;
   y number :=0;
   z number :=0;
   c varchar2(50);
   result varchar2(20);
  BEGIN
  select round(dbms_random.value(1,99))into w from dual;
  SELECT upper(dbms_random.string('A', 2))into a FROM dual;
  SELECT round(dbms_random.value(1, 9)) into x FROM dual;
  SELECT upper(dbms_random.string('A', 4)) into b FROM dual;
  SELECT round(dbms_random.value(1, 9)) into y FROM dual;
  SELECT upper(dbms_random.string('A', 1)) into c FROM dual;
  SELECT round(dbms_random.value(1, 9)) into z FROM dual;
   result :=(  to_char(w) ||a|| to_char(x)|| b|| to_char(y)|| c ||to_char(z)) ;
   DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE( 'Result ::' || result);
   RETURN result ;
  END fn_mac;
  /

Answer 6

You could start with the Printable option, then strip out any non-alphanumerics:

select SUBSTR(
         TRANSLATE(dbms_random.string('p',100)
            ,'A`~!@#$%^&*()-=_+[]\{}|;'':",./<>?'
            ,'A')
       ,1,10) from dual;

(Note: very rarely, this will return less than 10 characters)

or, map the offending characters to other letters and numbers (although this would reduce the randomness quite a bit):

select TRANSLATE(dbms_random.string('p',10)
            ,'A`~!@#$%^&*()-=_+[]\{}|;'':",./<>? '
            ,'A' || dbms_random.string('x',33)) from dual;

Great question, by the way.

Now, for my bonus points:

The reason Oracle didn't implement this is because no-one asked for it, and it probably is not a high priority.