Random strings in Python 2.6 (Is this OK?)

Question

I\'ve been trying to find a more pythonic way of generating random string in python that can scale as well. Typically, I see something similar to

\'\'.join(r         


        

Answer 1

Regarding the last example, the following fix to make sure the line is even length, whatever the junk_len value:

junk_len = 1024
junk =  (("%%0%dX" % (junk_len * 2)) % random.getrandbits(junk_len * 8)).decode("hex")

Answer 2

It seems the fromhex() method expects an even number of hex digits. Your string is 75 characters long. Be aware that something[:-1] excludes the last element! Just use something[:].

Answer 3

Taken from the 1023290 bug report at Python.org:

junk_len = 1024
junk =  (("%%0%dX" % junk_len) % random.getrandbits(junk_len *
8)).decode("hex")

Also, see the issues 923643 and 1023290

Answer 4

Sometimes a uuid is short enough and if you don't like the dashes you can always.replace('-', '') them

from uuid import uuid4

random_string = str(uuid4())

If you want it a specific length without dashes

random_string_length = 16
str(uuid4()).replace('-', '')[:random_string_length]

Answer 5

import os
random_string = os.urandom(string_length)

and if you need url safe string :

import os
random_string = os.urandom(string_length).hex() 

(note random_string length is greatest than string_length in that case)