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Groups > comp.lang.python > #17905

Re: Random string of digits?

From Roy Smith <roy@panix.com>
Newsgroups comp.lang.python
Subject Re: Random string of digits?
Date 2011-12-25 09:21 -0500
Organization PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC
Message-ID <roy-895E70.09213425122011@news.panix.com> (permalink)
References <roy-EDF7D2.08304625122011@news.panix.com> <mailman.4068.1324821046.27778.python-list@python.org>

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In article <mailman.4068.1324821046.27778.python-list@python.org>,
 Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> wrote:

> "%020d"%random.randint(0,99999999999999999999)
> (the latter gives you a string, padded with leading zeroes). But I'm
> assuming that you discarded that option due to lack of entropy (ie you
> can't trust randint() over that huge a range).

Actually, the only entropy involved here is the ever increasing amount 
of it between my ears.  It never occurred to me to try that :-)

> For your actual task, I'd be inclined to take ten digits, twice, and
> not bother with join():
> 
> '%010d%010d'%(random.randint(0,9999999999),random.randint(0,9999999999))
> 
> Looks a little ugly, but it works! And only two random number calls
> (which can be expensive).

Hmmm.  In my case, I was looking more to optimize clarity of code, not 
speed.  This is being used during account creation on a web site, so it 
doesn't get run very often.

It turns out, I don't really need 20 digits.  If I can count on

>>> "%020d" % random.randint(0,999999999999999)

to give me 15-ish digits, that's good enough for my needs and I'll 
probably go with that.  Thanks.

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Thread

Random string of digits? Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2011-12-25 08:30 -0500
  Re: Random string of digits? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-12-25 13:48 +0000
    Re: Random string of digits? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-12-26 00:54 +1100
      Re: Random string of digits? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-12-25 15:46 +0000
        Re: Random string of digits? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-12-26 03:11 +1100
          Re: Random string of digits? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-12-25 17:18 +0000
            Re: Random string of digits? Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2011-12-25 12:41 -0500
              Re: Random string of digits? 88888 Dihedral <dihedral88888@googlemail.com> - 2011-12-25 11:50 -0800
              Re: Random string of digits? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-12-26 03:00 +0000
                Re: Random string of digits? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-12-26 14:43 +1100
                Re: Random string of digits? Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2011-12-25 23:17 -0500
                Re: Random string of digits? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-12-26 15:26 +1100
    Re: Random string of digits? Serhiy Storchaka <storchaka@gmail.com> - 2011-12-25 19:32 +0200
  Re: Random string of digits? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-12-26 00:50 +1100
    Re: Random string of digits? Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2011-12-25 09:21 -0500
      Re: Random string of digits? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-12-26 01:51 +1100
        Re: Random string of digits? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-12-25 15:27 +0000
  Re: Random string of digits? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-12-26 00:51 +1100
  Re: Random string of digits? Peter Otten <__peter__@web.de> - 2011-12-25 16:21 +0100

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