we have this Perl forms script (perl 4) that needs to be modified so that it includes a unique character string (number and/or text) automatically inserted into the generated output when the form is submitted with user information.

Currently, the relevant code outputs like this:

 print $ITEMOUT "Subject:   Request_Number:  \n";

with the "Reqest_Number:" followed by blank text, but the new version of our processing software requires that the "Request_Number:" string be followed by a unique number or text string (for the form submission to be processed without errors.)

I'm thinking of getting the date/time from system and inserting it after the "Request_Number:" as a means of generating a unique string.

Any suggestions for doing this using date/time stamp or other better means of generating unique string. This is not a high volume form, so I thought the date/time is "unique enough"

thanks in advance..from someone new to PERL

In reply to gernerating unique string by Anonymous Monk

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.