Generate random string [duplicate]

Answer 1

Maybe you can find the Path.GetRandomFileName method useful, depending on the exact characters you need in the string.

Answer 2

Try using the same random object for the whole string, rather than initializing one for each char.

The random object will generate a "pseudo-random" number, based on mathematical progressions starting from a "seed" number. You can actually get the same sequence of "random" numbers if you initialize the Random object to the same seed every time.

Now, when you initialize Random without specifying a seed, it'll take the computer's clock as seed. In this case, you're probably doing it fast enough that the clock hasn't changed from one initialization to another, and you get always get the same seed.

You're better off initializing the Random object in your function that generates the random string, and passing it as a parameter to the GenerateChar function, so that you're calling NextDouble() several times on the same instance of the Random object, instead of only once on different instances of it.

Answer 3

I know this might not be the best solution, but I kind of like the idea to be able to specify "allowed" characters:

    private const int _defaultNumberOfCharacters = 8;
    private const int _defaultExpireDays = 10;
    private static readonly string _allowedCharacters = "bcdfghjklmnpqrstvxz0123456789";

    public static string GenerateKey(int numberOfCharacters)
    {
        const int from = 0;
        int to = _allowedCharacters.Length;
        Random r = new Random();

        StringBuilder qs = new StringBuilder();
        for (int i = 0; i < numberOfCharacters; i++)
        {
            qs.Append(_allowedCharacters.Substring(r.Next(from, to), 1));
        }
        return qs.ToString();
    }

Answer 4

Try static

public string GenerateChar()
{
    static Random random = new Random();

    return Convert.ToChar(Convert.ToInt32(Math.Floor(26 * random.NextDouble() + 65))).ToString();
}

Answer 5

Pass random from the calling method and initialise it once - you are reseeding the Random generator with the same seed each time....