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

Random String Generator (Alpha-Numeric | Alpha | Numeric)

/**
 * Pseudo-random string generator
 * http://stackoverflow.com/a/27872144/383904
 * Default: return a random alpha-numeric string
 * 
 * @param {Integer} len Desired length
 * @param {String} an Optional (alphanumeric), "a" (alpha), "n" (numeric)
 * @return {String}
 */
function randomString(len, an) {
  an = an && an.toLowerCase();
  var str = "",
    i = 0,
    min = an == "a" ? 10 : 0,
    max = an == "n" ? 10 : 62;
  for (; i++ < len;) {
    var r = Math.random() * (max - min) + min << 0;
    str += String.fromCharCode(r += r > 9 ? r < 36 ? 55 : 61 : 48);
  }
  return str;
}

console.log(randomString(10));      // i.e: "4Z8iNQag9v"
console.log(randomString(10, "a")); // i.e: "aUkZuHNcWw"
console.log(randomString(10, "n")); // i.e: "9055739230"

---

While the above uses additional checks for the desired A/N, A, N output, let's break it down the to the essentials (Alpha-Numeric only) for a better understanding:

• Create a function that accepts an argument (desired length of the random String result)
• Create an empty string like var str = ""; to concatenate random characters
• Inside a loop create a rand index number from 0 to 61 (0..9+A..Z+a..z = 62)
• Create a conditional logic to Adjust/fix rand (since it's 0..61) incrementing it by some number (see examples below) to get back the right CharCode number and the related Character.
• Inside the loop concatenate to str a String.fromCharCode( incremented rand )

Let's picture the ASCII Character table ranges:

_____0....9______A..........Z______a..........z___________  Character
     | 10 |      |    26    |      |    26    |             Tot = 62 characters
    48....57    65..........90    97..........122           CharCode ranges

Math.floor( Math.random * 62 ) gives a range from 0..61 (what we need).
Let's fix the random to get the correct charCode ranges:

      |   rand   | charCode |  (0..61)rand += fix            = charCode ranges |
------+----------+----------+--------------------------------+-----------------+
0..9  |   0..9   |  48..57  |  rand += 48                    =     48..57      |
A..Z  |  10..35  |  65..90  |  rand += 55 /*  90-35 = 55 */  =     65..90      |
a..z  |  36..61  |  97..122 |  rand += 61 /* 122-61 = 61 */  =     97..122     |

The conditional operation logic from the table above:

   rand += rand>9 ? ( rand<36 ? 55 : 61 ) : 48 ;
// rand +=  true  ? (  true   ? 55 else 61 ) else 48 ;

From the explanation above, here's the resulting alpha-numeric snippet:

function randomString(len) {
  var str = "";                                // String result
  for (var i = 0; i < len; i++) {              // Loop `len` times
    var rand = Math.floor(Math.random() * 62); // random: 0..61
    var charCode = rand += rand > 9 ? (rand < 36 ? 55 : 61) : 48; // Get correct charCode
    str += String.fromCharCode(charCode);      // add Character to str
  }
  return str; // After all loops are done, return the concatenated string
}

console.log(randomString(10)); // i.e: "7GL9F0ne6t"

Or if you will:

const randomString = (n, r='') => {
  while (n--) r += String.fromCharCode((r=Math.random()*62|0, r+=r>9?(r<36?55:61):48));
  return r;
};

console.log(randomString(10))

Answer 2

Assuming you use underscorejs it's possible to elegantly generate random string in just two lines:

var possible = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789';
var random = _.sample(possible, 5).join('');

Answer 3

I think this will work for you:

function makeid(length) {
   var result           = '';
   var characters       = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789';
   var charactersLength = characters.length;
   for ( var i = 0; i < length; i++ ) {
      result += characters.charAt(Math.floor(Math.random() * charactersLength));
   }
   return result;
}

console.log(makeid(5));

Answer 4

How about something like this: Date.now().toString(36) Not very random, but short and quite unique every time you call it.

Answer 5

How about this compact little trick?

var possible = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789';
var stringLength = 5;

function pickRandom() {
    return possible[Math.floor(Math.random() * possible.length)];
}

var randomString = Array.apply(null, Array(stringLength)).map(pickRandom).join('');

You need the Array.apply there to trick the empty array into being an array of undefineds.

If you're coding for ES2015, then building the array is a little simpler:

var randomString = Array.from({ length: stringLength }, pickRandom).join('');

Answer 6

A newer version with es6 spread operator:

[...Array(30)].map(() => Math.random().toString(36)[2]).join('')

• The 30 is arbitrary number, you can pick any token length you want
• The 36 is the maximum radix number you can pass to numeric.toString(), which means all numbers and a-z lowercase letters
• The 2 is used to pick the 3th index from the random string which looks like this: "0.mfbiohx64i", we could take any index after 0.