Generate Random Key Of Letters
Nov 05, 2015 Summary: Ed Wilson, Microsoft Scripting Guy, talks about generating random letters with Windows PowerShell. Hey, Scripting Guy! I need to generate a string of random letters. These letters need to be five characters long, and they should be either upper case or lower case. Random Letter Sequence Generator. Number of random letter sequences to generate: Length of each random letter sequence: Letters to choose from.
-->Syntax
Description
The Get-Random cmdlet gets a randomly selected number. If you submit a collection of objects toGet-Random, it gets one or more randomly selected objects from the collection.
Without parameters or input, a Get-Random command returns a randomly selected 32-bit unsignedinteger between 0 (zero) and Int32.MaxValue (0x7FFFFFFF, 2,147,483,647).
You can use the parameters of Get-Random to specify a seed number, minimum and maximum values, andthe number of objects returned from a submitted collection.
Examples
Example 1: Get a random integer
This command gets a random integer between 0 (zero) and Int32.MaxValue.
Example 2: Get a random integer between 0 and 99
Example 3: Get a random integer between -100 and 99
Example 4: Get a random floating-point number
This command gets a random floating-point number greater than or equal to 10.7 and less than 20.92.
Example 5: Get a random integer from an array
This command gets a randomly selected number from the specified array.
Example 6: Get several random integers from an array
This command gets three randomly selected numbers in random order from an array.
Example 7: Randomize an entire collection
This command returns the entire collection in random order.
The value of the Count parameter is the MaxValue static property of integers.
To return an entire collection in random order, enter any number that is greater than or equal tothe number of objects in the collection.
Example 8: Get a random non-numeric value
This command returns a random value from a non-numeric collection.
Example 9: Use the SetSeed parameter
This example shows the effect of using the SetSeed parameter.
Because SetSeed produces non-random behavior, it's typically used only to reproduce results,such as when debugging or analyzing a script.
Example 10: Get random files
These commands get a randomly selected sample of 50 files from the C: drive of the local computer.
Random Number And Letter Generator
Example 11: Roll fair dice
This example rolls a fair die 1200 times and counts the outcomes. The first command, For-EachObjectrepeats the call to Get-Random from the piped in numbers (1-6). The results are grouped by theirvalue with Group-Object and formatted as a table with Select-Object.
Example 12: Use the Count parameter
You can now use the Count parameter without piping objects to Get-Random.The following example gets three random numbers less than 10.
Example 13: Use the InputObject parameter with an empty string or $null
In this example, the InputObject parameter specifies an array that contains an empty string(') and $null.
Get-Random will return either a, empty string, or $null. The empty sting displays as a blankline and $null returns to a PowerShell prompt.
Parameters
Specifies the number of random objects or numbers to return. The default is 1.
When used with InputObject, if the value of Count exceeds the number of objects in thecollection, Get-Random returns all of the objects in random order.
| Type: | Int32 |
| Position: | Named |
| Default value: | None |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Specifies a collection of objects. Get-Random gets randomly selected objects in random order fromthe collection up to the number specified by Count. Enter the objects, a variable that containsthe objects, or a command or expression that gets the objects. You can also pipe a collection ofobjects to Get-Random.
Beginning in PowerShell 7, the InputObject parameter accepts arrays that can contain an emptystring or $null. The array can be sent down the pipeline or as an InputObject parameter value.
| Type: | Object[] |
| Position: | 0 |
| Default value: | None |
| Accept pipeline input: | True (ByValue) |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Specifies a maximum value for the random number. Get-Random returns a value that is less than themaximum (not equal). Enter an integer, a double-precision floating-point number, or an object thatcan be converted to an integer or double, such as a numeric string ('100').
The value of Maximum must be greater than (not equal to) the value of Minimum. If the valueof Maximum or Minimum is a floating-point number, Get-Random returns a randomly selectedfloating-point number.
On a 64-bit computer, if the value of Minimum is a 32-bit integer, the default value ofMaximum is Int32.MaxValue.
If the value of Minimum is a double (a floating-point number), the default value of Maximumis Double.MaxValue. Otherwise, the default value is Int32.MaxValue.
| Type: | Object |
| Position: | 0 |
| Default value: | None |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Specifies a minimum value for the random number. Enter an integer, a double-precision floating-pointnumber, or an object that can be converted to an integer or double, such as a numeric string('100'). The default value is 0 (zero).
The value of Minimum must be less than (not equal to) the value of Maximum. If the value ofMaximum or Minimum is a floating-point number, Get-Random returns a randomly selectedfloating-point number.
| Type: | Object |
| Position: | Named |
| Default value: | None |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Specifies a seed value for the random number generator. This seed value is used for the currentcommand and for all subsequent Get-Random commands in the current session until you useSetSeed again or close the session. You can't reset the seed to its default value.
The SetSeed parameter is not required. By default, Get-Random uses theRandomNumberGenerator()method to generate a seed value. Because SetSeed results in non-random behavior, it's typicallyused only when trying to reproduce behavior, such as when debugging or analyzing a script thatincludes Get-Random commands.
| Type: | Int32 |
| Position: | Named |
| Default value: | None |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Inputs
You can pipe one or more objects. Get-Random selects values randomly from the piped objects.
Outputs
System.Int32, System.Int64, System.Double
Get-Random returns an integer or floating-point number, or an object selected randomly from asubmitted collection.
Notes
Get-Random sets a default seed for each session based on the system time clock when the sessionstarts.
Get-Random does not alway return the same data type as the input value. The following table showsthe output type for each of the numeric input types.
| Input Type | Output Type |
|---|---|
| SByte | Double |
| Byte | Double |
| Int16 | Double |
| UInt16 | Double |
| Int32 | Int32 |
| UInt32 | Double |
| Int64 | Int64 |
| UInt64 | Double |
| Double | Double |
| Single | Double |
Beginning in Windows PowerShell 3.0, Get-Random supports 64-bit integers. In Windows PowerShell2.0, all values are cast to System.Int32.
Generate Random Key Of Letters Pdf
Beginning in PowerShell 7, the InputObject parameter in the RandomListItemParameterSetparameter set accepts arrays that contain an empty string or $null. In earlier PowerShellversions, only the Maximum parameter in the RandomNumberParameterSet parameter set acceptedan empty string or $null.
