Pass it a length and get a somewhat random string. Not recommended for sessioning, (use MD5, SHA1, etc for that). I just needed 4 digit somewhat random strings so pulling in MD5 seemed overkill.
sub random_string {
  my $length = shift || 2;
  my @chars = ('a'..'z','A'..'Z',0..9);
  join ('',map{ $chars[ rand() * @chars  ] } (1..$length));
}

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Re: Generate (somewhat) Random Strings
by Anonymous Monk on Jun 25, 2003 at 03:07 UTC
    This is basicaly the same but changed the rand() * @chars to something more intuitive when your reading it. I'm want to make one that lets you pass an array of possible letters to (no perl on this comp though :-( )
    sub RandomString {
    my $len = shift || 15;
    my @chars = ( "A".."Z", "a".."z", 0..9);
    return join '', map { $chars[ rand @chars ] } 1..$len;
}

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[reply]
[d/l]
      I suppose rand() * N is a holdover from C. Here's a newer version that let's you pass as a second argument, a list or array reference of characters to use. The length will be combined elements length and not string length. 
      sub random_string {
  my $length = shift || 2;
  my @chars = ('a'..'z','A'..'Z',0..9);
  @chars = UNIVERSAL::isa($_[0],'ARRAY') ? @{$_[0]} :  @_ if @_;
  join ('',map{ $chars[ rand @chars  ] } (1..$length));    
}

# Example
print random_string(5,[qw(foo bar base )]),"\n";
print random_string(5,'a'..'f',0..9 ),"\n";

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      -Lee

      "To be civilized is to deny one's nature."
[reply]
[d/l]

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