Category: Utility Scripts
Author/Contact Info Clare Elliott - celliott@star.net.uk
Description: A simple (i.e. easily adapted by those with more specific requirements) password generator, which will generate passwords according to a template. Useful for environments where the use of a specific format of password is encouraged. 
#!/usr/bin/perl
 
$numargs = scalar @ARGV;
 
if ($numargs == 0) {
        print "Clare's Random Password Generator\n";
        print "Usage: pwdgen template [number]\n";
        print "where template is a string composed of the following ch
+aracters\n";
        print "\tl\tlower case letter\n\tL\tupper case letter\n\tc\tlo
+wer case consonant\n\tC\tupper case consonant\n";
        print "\tl\tlower case vowel\n\tL\tupper case vowel\n\tn\tnumb
+er\n\tp\tpunctuation mark\n\ta\tany character\n";
        print "Any character in the template which is not one of those
+ above will be placed in the password at the same position\n";
        print "number refers to the number of passwords to generate - 
+this defaults to 10.\n";
}
 
$template = $ARGV[0];
 
if ($ARGV[1] =~ /^\d+$/) {
        $num = $ARGV[1];
}
else {
        $num = 10;
}
 
my @l = split '', 'qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm';
my @n = split '', '0123456789';
my @p = split '', ',.?<>;:@/!"%^&*()-+=_';
my @L = split '', 'QWERTYUIOPASDFGHJKLZXCVBNM';
my @c = split '', 'qwrtypsdfghjklzxcvbnm';
my @C = split '', 'QWRTYPSDFGHJKLZXCVBNM';
my @v = split '', 'aeiou';
my @V = split '', 'AEIOU';
my @a = split '', 'qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmQWERTYUIOPASDFGHJKLZXCVBN
+M,.?<>;:@/!"%^&*()-+=_0123456789';
 
my @t = split '', $template;
$len = scalar @t;
 
my $newpass = "";
 
for ($c = 0; $c < $num; $c++) {
        for ($x = 0; $x < $len ; $x ++) {
                if ($t[$x] eq "l") { $newpass .= $l[rand @l]; next;}
                if ($t[$x] eq "L") { $newpass .= $L[rand @L]; next;}
                if ($t[$x] eq "c") { $newpass .= $c[rand @c]; next;}
                if ($t[$x] eq "C") { $newpass .= $C[rand @C]; next;}
                if ($t[$x] eq "v") { $newpass .= $v[rand @v]; next;}
                if ($t[$x] eq "V") { $newpass .= $V[rand @V]; next;}
                if ($t[$x] eq "n") { $newpass .= $n[rand @n]; next;}
                if ($t[$x] eq "p") { $newpass .= $p[rand @p]; next;}
                if ($t[$x] eq "a") { $newpass .= $a[rand @a]; next;}
                $newpass .= $t[$x];
        }
        print "$newpass\n";
        $newpass = "";
}
Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Generic Password Generator
by dooberwah (Pilgrim) on Jun 29, 2001 at 07:04 UTC
    First of all I'd just like to say that I think your code is really cool and that this program was a neat idea. I just made a few cosmetic changes to the code, please don't take any offense at this.

    Things I Changed

  • Made it so that it compiles with -w and use strict.
  • Put an exit(0) command so that it doesn't print out 10 blank lines with the message if no arguments are supllied.
  • Added code to check if $ARGV[1] is supplied so that it doesn't print a message about an empty regular-expression.

    The (Slightly) Changed Code: 

    #!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;

my $numargs = scalar @ARGV; 
if ($numargs == 0) {
        print "Clare's Random Password Generator\n";
        print "Usage: pwdgen template [number]\n";
        print "where template is a string composed of the following ch
+aracters\n";
        print "\tl\tlower case letter\n\tL\tupper case letter\n\tc\tlo
+wer case consonant\n\tC\tupper case consonant\n";
        print "\tl\tlower case vowel\n\tL\tupper case vowel\n\tn\tnumb
+er\n\tp\tpunctuation mark\n\ta\tany character\n";
        print "Any character in the template which is not one of those
+ above will be placed in the password at the same position\n";
        print "number refers to the number of passwords to generate - 
+this defaults to 10.\n";
    exit(0);
} 
my $num;
my $template = $ARGV[0]; 
if (defined $ARGV[1]) {
        if ($ARGV[1] =~ /^\d+$/) {
                $num = $ARGV[1];
    }
}
else {
        $num = 10;
} my @l = split '', 'qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm';
my @n = split '', '0123456789';
my @p = split '', ',.?<>;:@/!"%^&*()-+=_';
my @L = split '', 'QWERTYUIOPASDFGHJKLZXCVBNM';
my @c = split '', 'qwrtypsdfghjklzxcvbnm';
my @C = split '', 'QWRTYPSDFGHJKLZXCVBNM';
my @v = split '', 'aeiou';
my @V = split '', 'AEIOU';
my @a = split '', 'qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmQWERTYUIOPASDFGHJKLZXCVBN
+M,.?<>;:@/!"%^&*()-+=_0123456789'; my @t = split '', $template;
my $len = scalar @t; 
my $newpass = ""; 
for (my $c = 0; $c < $num; $c++) {
        for (my $x = 0; $x < $len ; $x ++) {
                if ($t[$x] eq "l") { $newpass .= $l[rand @l]; next;}
                if ($t[$x] eq "L") { $newpass .= $L[rand @L]; next;}
                if ($t[$x] eq "c") { $newpass .= $c[rand @c]; next;}
                if ($t[$x] eq "C") { $newpass .= $C[rand @C]; next;}
                if ($t[$x] eq "v") { $newpass .= $v[rand @v]; next;}
                if ($t[$x] eq "V") { $newpass .= $V[rand @V]; next;}
                if ($t[$x] eq "n") { $newpass .= $n[rand @n]; next;}
                if ($t[$x] eq "p") { $newpass .= $p[rand @p]; next;}
                if ($t[$x] eq "a") { $newpass .= $a[rand @a]; next;}
                $newpass .= $t[$x];
        }
        print "$newpass\n";
        $newpass = "";
}

    [download]

    -Ben Jacobs (dooberwah)
    one thing i can tell you is you got to be free
    http://dooberwah.perlmonk.org

[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
      Thank you - all good points.....

      Clare
[reply]
        Hi, just one thing ... line 11 needs to be revised as follows:

                print "\tv\tlower case vowel\n\tV\tupper case vowel\n\tn\tnumb
+er\n\tp\tpunctuation mark\n\ta\tany character\n";

        [download]

        Otherwise your default ($numargs == 0) is showing "l" & "L" for vowels as well as letters.

        Other than that ... I like this ... I'm keeping it!

        So Long
        blackstarr

[reply]
[d/l]
Re: Generic Password Generator
by mexnix (Pilgrim) on Jun 28, 2001 at 22:26 UTC
    I liked your program, but IMHO you might want to make the password generator a subroutine that only runs if $template is defined. I'm running on a windows box at work, and I didn't get to see the instructions when the program prints 10 blank lines at the bottom. Also I'm sure everyone would agree on use strict and -w. Just a thought.

    ...... # your code
my $newpass = "";

sub make_passwords {
 for ($c... # your for loop
}
&make_passwords if $template;

    [download]
    __________________________________________________
    %mexnix = (email = > "mexnix@hotmail.com", website => "http://mexnix.perlmonk.org");
[reply]
[d/l]
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