use strict;
use warnings;

my $records_wanted = 10;

my $minlength=3;
my $maxlength=6; # max length of the record - will be specified by user

my @alphabet = ( 'a' .. 'z', 'A' .. 'Z', '0' .. '9' );

my $records_made = 0;
while ( $records_made++ < $records_wanted ) {
    my $record = '';
    my $record_length
        = $minlength + int rand( $maxlength - $minlength + 1 );

    warn "rlength: $record_length\n";

    while ( length $record < $record_length ) {
        $record .= $alphabet[ rand @alphabet ];
    }
    warn "record: $record\n";
}