Show HN: r.ger.lv – simple random string generation (opens in new tab)

(r.ger.lv)

2 pointsgerlv9y ago7 comments

7 comments

5 comments · 2 top-level

stephenr9y ago· 2 in thread

So, I was joking when I said the next thing will be `println as a service`. This is not helping to disprove that prediction.

What language doesn't have random string generation available either as a standard part of the runtime, or as a reliable library?

moridin0079y ago

but is it really random or pseudorandom? i feel that services like these can be useful to introduce a higher level of entropy to your own local random number library

stephenr9y ago

> i feel that services like these can be useful to introduce a higher level of entropy to your own local random number library

They just use /dev/urandom + sha512, and them capitalise some characters. You can pipe /dev/urandom input into any number of tools locally to get random strings - base64 is nice as it gives you a wider range of characters.

1 more reply

gerlvOP9y ago· 1 in thread

I've implemented a small tool for generating random strings, maybe someone else will find it useful.

- r.ger.lv - default is 20 characters [a-zA-Z0-9]

- r.ger.lv/<len> <len> of [a-zA-Z0-9]

- r.ger.lv/s-<len> <len> of [a-zA-Z0-9_+-.,!@#$%^&*();\/|"']

`curl -L r.ger.lv/25` - if you want to run from the terminal.

More info: https://www.ger.lv/simple-random-string-generation/

brudgers9y ago

My general concern with this type of service is that the strings could wind up directly in a rainbow table and that might defeat one of the reasons for using it.

Not an accusation, just an observation about the limits of the service.

Good luck.

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