This is a single function that returns a random string. Parameters allow you to specify length (min & max), use of caps/lowercase, use of numbers, and use of special characters. Example: email validation for user account creation (send the key to the email address entered and the user must supply it on the site to complete the process).
By : mugane
function str_makerand ($minlength, $maxlength, $useupper, $usespecial, $usenumbers) { /* Author: Peter Mugane Kionga-Kamau http://www.pmkmedia.com
Description: string str_makerand(int $minlength, int $maxlength, bool $useupper, bool $usespecial, bool $usenumbers) returns a randomly generated string of length between $minlength and $maxlength inclusively.
Notes: - If $useupper is true uppercase characters will be used; if false they will be excluded. - If $usespecial is true special characters will be used; if false they will be excluded. - If $usenumbers is true numerical characters will be used; if false they will be excluded. - If $minlength is equal to $maxlength a string of length $maxlength will be returned. - Not all special characters are included since they could cause parse errors with queries.
Modify at will. */ $charset = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"; if ($useupper) $charset .= "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"; if ($usenumbers) $charset .= "0123456789"; if ($usespecial) $charset .= "~@#$%^*()_+-={}|]["; // Note: using all special characters this reads: "~!@#$%^&*()_+`-={}|\\]?[\":;'><,./"; if ($minlength > $maxlength) $length = mt_rand ($maxlength, $minlength); else $length = mt_rand ($minlength, $maxlength); for ($i=0; $i<$length; $i++) $key .= $charset[(mt_rand(0,(strlen($charset)-1)))]; return $key; }
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