This is a simple script to generate a short, readable password in Perl. Be warned that using a password this short and simple can be a security risk. I would suggest using this Perl password generation script only to create a temporary password, perhaps to set on an account long enough for someone to log in and change it if they've forgotten their current password.
Let's take a look at the password generation script in it's entirety, and then see what we're doing step by step.
#!/usr/local/bin/perlThe meat of the password script is contained in the generatePassword function. This function is called with a single number that corresponds to the length of the password you want to generate. I would suggest a minimum of 10, but be careful - because these passwords are so short and readable, they are very vulnerable to brute force attacks.
print generatePassword(10) . "\n";
exit;
sub generatePassword {
$length = shift;
$possible = 'abcdefghijkmnpqrstuvwxyz23456789ABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRSTUVWXYZ';
while (length($password) < $length) {
$password .= substr($possible, (int(rand(length($possible)))), 1);
}
return $password
}
Password Function Usage
Using the function in your own scripts is very simple. First make sure you copy the entire subroutine into your own script somewhere. Then when you want a password simple call the function with the password character length you want. For example, if you want a 10 character password, you would say:$tempPass = generatePassword(10);For a 15 character password:
$tempPass = generatePassword(15);Next: How the Perl password generation function works